The title of this message, Not Meant to be Clever, is actually
scriptural. What we can't remember, God can't
forget. Read with me verses 5 through
8. Not meant to be clever at all,
but to comfort. Remember, the Lord tells us,
remember his marvelous works that he hath done, his wonders,
the judgments of his mouth. O ye see, of Abraham his servant,
and children of Jacob his chosen. He is the Lord our God. His judgments
are in all the earth. He hath remembered his covenant
forever, the word he commanded. to a thousand generations. This
is to God's people, he said, the seed of Abraham, sons of
Jacob, true Israel, true people of God, those who worship God
in spirit, true concision, and worship God in the spirit, rejoice
in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flair. Those
that fear God, those that look to Christ, those who have no
hope in themselves. Those who do not trust themselves
and their works. Those who know that their sinners
and their greatest need is the mercy of God through the blood
and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who
this is speaking to. And it's good news. I've got
good news to you. Whoever it is that could enter
into what I've just said. Chosen of God. Revealed the gospel
to you. She revealed herself to you and
shown you your need of the mercy of God through a bloody sacrifice. Now, I've got good news. I've got good news. I've got two points to this message,
actually. And this didn't originate with
me or any man. It's just what God's Word said. Two points, actually. First is,
what we can't seem to remember, God cannot forget. And what we can't forget, God
can't remember. Some of you already know. You
already know. This message was mostly Scripture. And I began to look up all the
times it speaks about remembering, remembering. And forgetting,
forgetting. There were just too many. I just
kept jotting down. I jotted down about 60 verses
of Scripture, and I quit. We can't read all of those. But we'll read a few. What we
can't seem to remember, God cannot forget. He tells us in verse
5, remember his marvelous works that he had done, his wonders
and the judgments of his mouth. Remember. Remember his works. Two great works of our God are
creation and salvation. These make up the principal works
of our God. Creation and salvation. The heavens
declare his glory. Wondrous works of God. Are you
with me? Come on now. Wake up. This is glorious. We all deserve
to hear this. God made this the heavens and
the earth. The heavens declare His glory,
the firmament showeth His hand, and day and night utter speech. This psalm begins by saying,
give thanks unto the Lord. Call upon His name. Make known
His deeds. Sing unto the Lord. Glory in
His holy name. Seek the Lord. It's a prophetic
command. Why? He hath made us, and not
we ourselves. And He made this earth and put
us on it and given us all things richly to enjoy. The God in whose
hands our breath is and all our ways is given us. All these things
freely given us. And oh, we sure are a sorry,
ungrateful lot, aren't we? We've met here today. This is
why we come here. We come here to give thanks to our Creator.
Romans 1. Man, how much longer is God going
to put up with this creation? God continues to be Merciful
and gracious and kind and just lavish people with things. Just
keep giving and giving and giving. By the grace of God, we are what
we are and have what we have and do what our great Creator
in whose hands we are gives us all these things. What do we
do? Forget it. Forget. We ought to be marveling. He
says his marvelous works. I'm guilty. At times I go, I
don't marvel. I don't marvel. I don't wonder
at His works. We ought to wake up every morning
and marvel, wonder. It's of the Lord's mercy that
we're not consumed. His compassions, they fail not.
They're new every morning, every time we wake up. If we went to
sleep, He gave it to us. If we wake up, a new day of mercy. And that sun He puts in the skies
to remind us, remember now thy Creator. We forget no more. His wondrous works, His providence. He says, remember His marvelous
works of creation that He hath done, His wonders, His wondrous
works of providence. This whole book, beginning mostly
in Exodus, It's the story of a people, a
sorry people, a no good people, a worthless people that didn't
know God. They didn't know God. But God
knew them. God loved them. God chose them
to do what? To reveal Himself to them. Thine
God, there is none else. Left to themselves, they'd have
been like the Egyptians. And that's us. Every one of them.
And from Exodus all the way through to the end of the book is story
after story reminding us how that God chose a people. And
God had mercy on these people. And God was gracious to these
people. Saved the rebellious people that
forgot Him all the time. Day in and day out, didn't give
him a thought. Had the God in sovereign mercy
and electing grace, long suffering. The whole book is reminder after
reminder, psalm after psalm, reminding him, look at these
people. Look at what they did. And look at what God did for
them. Look at His great mercy. Look at His great grace. Look
at how long He put up with it. Every preacher stood up and preached
that. David wrote so many psalms about
that, didn't he? Reminding us. And we're no different. There's not a person in Him who
differs. Not one believer in here differs
from those sons of Jacob. In Deuteronomy 8, Deuteronomy,
the whole book, is a reminder, is a rehearsal, again, of the
same thing, over and over. And he says in Deuteronomy 8,
Remember, all the way thy Lord led thee, and fed thee, and watered
thee, and had mercy on thee, and kept you as the apple of
His eye, when you were far from any, far from faithful, far from
Appreciate it. Far from like that. It's come far short of God. Psalm 106. It's not by accident
that it follows Chapter 105. Chapter 105 is all the works
of God. Then Chapter 106 says, now this
is what the people did. This is what they did. Look at Psalm 106 verse Verse 6 says, We have sinned with our
fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedness. Our
fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt. They remembered not
the multitude of thy mercy. They forgot. What did they start
doing? They started murmuring in their tents. They started
complaining. Don't you love the Lord's mercy
there? Chapter 105 says they asked him for meat and he gave
them quails. They weren't asking. They were
demanding. They were complaining. He gave them. Look at verse 13. They soon forgot his works. They didn't wait for his counsel,
his word. See what the Lord said that they ran ahead, lusted exceedingly
in the wilderness, tempted God in the desert, and He gave them
their quest, but sent lameness unto their soul. Oh my. If you are honest, if
we are honest, every professing believer in here is honest, you
will admit we often forget God. We go through times that we don't
give him much thought. We don't think about his presence.
We would sin a lot less if we were conscious of the presence
of God. David says it all the time, in thy sight have I done
this evil. Thought this thought. Shut him out of the mind so we
can indulge ourselves. Don't consider him. Don't consider
His Word. Don't look at His Word. Don't think on it. Rather, don't
think on Him. There are times we don't think
on Him, but our affections set on things below, things on the
earth. I don't think so. Anybody? Everybody. Times we don't call on Him. Don't
seek His face. Don't seek His wisdom. And then we get ourselves into
trouble. Every time. And God allows it. He allows
it. To chasten us. Humble us. And the worst times, like verse
25, murmured in their tents. Murmured their tents. And down
in verse 35, it says, they mingled among the heathen, learned their
works. That is, they became just like the people around them.
Verse 39 says that they were defiled with their own works
and went a-whoring. That's biblical language, isn't
it? My brother prayed that last week. May have shocked some sensitive
ears. We go a-whoring, but that's what
the scripture means. That means sell your body. Sell
yourself to pleasure. There's not a person in here
that hadn't done it and doesn't do it still. Not one. Not one. Beginning with me. And up in verse 23, he said,
"...had not Moses stood in the breach..." You know who Moses represents,
don't you? The Lord Jesus Christ who stood in the breach. Had
not God sent Christ down here to be crucified on Calvary's
tree in our place, He would have destroyed us all. And would still.
And would still. Had not Moses made intercession
for the transgressors, and had not our Lord Jesus Christ, did
not our Lord Jesus Christ right now ever live to make intercession
for these, us, us transgressors, we perish. But we get into trouble
of our own making for not listening to our Lord, for not seeking
Him, and He hides His face. Thou art a God that hideth thyself. And his children go astray. It's the nature of children to
do so. Children almost always will always
leave their parents. Forget their parents. It's sad. Shouldn't happen, should it?
But they all do it. Especially young men. Boys, you
know. But they all do it. Forget their
parents. Forget those that gave them birth. Those that cradled them, and
nursed them, and loved them, and forgave them, and did all
that they did for them all their days, brought them up, and they
quickly forget them. Get lifted up with pride. Begin to think they know something
and can do something. But parents, seldom forget their
children. It's just not in the nature of
a true loving parent to forget their child. That child is always
on the mind of that parent. When that child never gives the
parent a thought, that parent's thoughts toward that child will
always be there. It doesn't matter where that
child is, how low that child gets, how wicked Such is the love. We forget God, His people. I'm talking to His people now.
I'm not talking to those that don't know Him. I'm talking to
those who do. We forget God, and we get in
trouble, and He allows it for our good. It's for our good. And we get in trouble, we forget
God, and then we cry, like David did in Psalm 77. He said, after
he realized what a fool he was, and what he'd done, and where
he'd gotten himself, what he'd gotten himself into, and how
he'd forgotten God, like the prodigal son, and he cried out,
feeling like God had forgotten him, feeling like the Lord is
finally through with him, which He should be, and he cried out,
is His mercy clean gone? Does his promise fail? Hath God
forgotten to be gracious? Hath God forgotten? Turn with me to Isaiah 49. Isaiah
49. As I said, children do forget, will forget their
parents, but a loving parent can never really forget their
children. And so it is with our Heavenly
Father. The children of God even often
forget their Heavenly Father, but God cannot forget His children. God cannot forget His children.
Christ cannot forgive His bride. Look at Isaiah 49 verse 13. This is why we need to sing.
Sing, O heavens, be joyful, O earth. Break forth into singing, O mountains,
for the Lord hath comforted his people. He will have mercy upon
his afflicted. But Zion said, because they got
themselves in this mess, Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken
me. My Lord hath forgotten me. But he says, can a woman Forget
her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son
of her woman. Doesn't seem possible, does it?
But you know, women do. Suggests they may forget, and
they often do, such as sinful men and women, huh? Yet, will
I not forgive him? It's not possible. I have graven
thee on the palms of my hands. You are continually before me.
Graven thee on the palms of my hands. What do you reckon that
means? The Lord Jesus Christ has scars
in his hands. laid down his life for his sheep. Not everybody, his sheep. He
knows them by name, like the high priest of old had names
on his shoulder and on his breastplate. The people that he went to redeem,
he knew them all by name. He says, I know my sheep. I know
them. I call them by name. I died for every one of them.
I'm going to have them. And he thinks on them. He still
has scars. The Lord Jesus Christ still has
scars. And our names are written. The
people of God's names are written in those scars. They cannot forget
them. They forget Him. They cannot
forget them. The children of God. The Bride
of Christ. The Bride of Christ. Look at
Isaiah 54. Oh, how I love this. Isaiah 54. Listen to this verse. I wish
everyone was here to hear this, but they're not. You are. You
are. Verse 4 of Isaiah 54 says, Fear
not, thou shalt not be ashamed. Ought to, but you won't. Neither
shall you be confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame.
Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember
the reproach of thy willyhood any more. For thy maker is thy
husband. The Lord of hosts is his name. Thy Redeemer, the Holy
One of Israel. The God of the whole earth shall
he be called. Who? Jesus Christ. Our husband, the
husband of his bride, of his wife, the church. The Lord, verse
6, hath called thee as a woman forsaken. Or like that child
in Ezekiel's field. Huh? In chapter 16. That child. It's both. That child was forsaken,
but the Lord came by and chose that child, polluted it, and
loved it, and caused it to live. But do you know what the child
did? grew up and became beautiful through His covenant, and yet
she got proud. She got proud when she was a
nothing from nowhere in God. But she got proud. And then the
Lord let her see herself for what it was, her ugliness. And
He came again and expressed His love to her. Or like Hosea and
Gomer. Like Hosea and Gomer. Gomer forgot
Hosea. Omer forgot Hosea. The Lord sent
this wonderful man down to marry a harlot. And he did. A woman of whoredoms. Rescued her, bought her with
a price. off the auction block of sin
and sold herself for sin, for pleasure. Her blessed Hosea,
which is Christ, came and bought her to Himself and began to feed
her and clothe her and loved her and dressed her and cleaned
her up and made her into a beautiful woman. But what she did? She
forgot Him and went for Him again and again and again. But God kept sending Hosea back
to her to tell her, I can't forget you. I won't leave you. And he said in Isaiah, I think
it's 51, where's the bill of your divorcement? You're trying
to divorce me. And you would if I'd let you.
But he says, I won't. I'll never give you up. That's
Jeremiah. Oh, that's Jeremiah. Let me read
that to you. Okay? In Jeremiah 31. You can turn
if you want to. You'll miss a blessing if you
don't. Jeremiah 31, verse 18, he says, I've heard he from bemoaning
himself. He should. He should. He's sorry. He's a sorry fellow. Ungrateful. Unfaithful. Unworthy. And the
Lord chastised him. And Ephraim says, he's chastised
me. I was chastised as a bullock, unaccustomed to the yoke. Turned
thou me, and I'll be turned? Thou art the Lord my God. Surely,
he said, God said, after that I was turned, or Ephraim said,
after I was turned, I repented. I wouldn't have if he hadn't
turned me, hadn't given me repentance. After I was instructed, I smote
on my thigh. You ever done that? Have you
ever done that when something finally gets through to you and
you realize your foolishness and your folly and your sin?
You go, what's wrong with me? Or the publican in the temple
says, I ain't blessed. Snowed on my thigh. And he says,
I was ashamed, confounded. I bore the reproach of my youth.
Here's what the Lord said about Ephraim. Oh, is Ephraim my dear
son? Is he a pleasant child? Since I spoke against him, I
do earnestly remember him still. My bowels are troubled for him.
I will surely have mercy on him, saith the Lord. Did anybody hear
that? Huh? He said in another place,
Ephraim, how can I give you up? He comes running out like a prodigal. Give me what's coming to me.
I'm out of here. This is for me. God said I do earnestly remember
Him. He's forgotten me time and time
again. She's forgotten me. It was a
whole day, a whole week without even giving me a thought. There's
not a moment, a moment in time She's not in my thoughts, and
I do know my thoughts toward her. Thoughts of peace. What
does she do? Murmurs and complains and fears
and worries. What a wretched, wretched people
we are. What a wonderful God we have. He remembers for us. Well, He
remembers, first of all, our frame. Perhaps my favorite verse
in all of Scripture. My favorite psalm, I have to
say, is Psalm 103, next to Psalm 51, Psalm 32, Psalm 38, Psalm
1. But Psalm 103, like as a father,
pityeth his children. A child rarely gives parent a
thought, yet that parent pities them. That child may rebel. against
that parent. Hurt them and mean to them. But it's not in that parent to
hate them. Love can't do it. And he remembers, like as a father
pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear him. For
he knoweth our prayer. He remembereth. He remembereth. That we're dust. He never forgets
what we're made of. Listen to me now. Listen to me
now, sinner. The Lord God never forgets what
you're made of. He never forgets your frame.
He never loses sight of the fact that you're sinful flesh, that
in you dwelleth no good thing. He never loses sight of the fact
that you're weak, that you're helpless, that without Him you
can do nothing. He never loses sight of that.
He remembers your praying all the time. He remembers your propensity
to sin. He remembers your proneness to
wander. He remembers that you forget
it. He remembers that you can't remember. He knows you're praying. He remembers for us what we forget
or choose to. His law. His law. It says in
Isaiah 53, that by His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify
me. We know His law. We know it in our head. But we
don't keep it. As many times when we willfully don't keep
it. Right? That's right. He knows. He knows. He knows
our prayer. Prone to wander, Lord, I fear.
He knows. He knows what sheep are made
of. He never loses sight of them.
That's why He said, I'm the great shepherd. Great shepherd. He
knows our prayer. He knows His law and He kept
it for us. He knows His covenants. Look back at Psalm 106. Look
at verse 45. Look at this. We forget. We forget His law, we forget
His covenant, we forget His gospel. Take it for granted. Forget. Verse 45 says, verse 44, Nevertheless,
He regarded their afflictions, and we heard their cry, and He
remembered for them. He remembered for them His covenant. He'll never forget his covenants
with Christ. We often forget what should be
unforgettable. That Jesus Christ came here.
Goodness gracious. We don't understand what it was
like for him to come to this place. And who he came for. Or what it was like for him to
endure what he did on Calvary Street. We just don't understand. Someday we will. We don't sing
these songs like that. We don't understand. When we talk about him who loved
us and hung on that cross, but we just don't understand what
we're saying, do we? We couldn't... We draw near with our lips. Our
hearts are far from Him. He knows Him. He knows our prayer. For Him to send His Son down
here and do what He did, and for us to hear it and not fall
to our knees in praise and thanksgiving and shame and gratitude. And so the Lord's mercies were
not consumed. I can't seem to remember much of anything. I can't remember to do what He
told me to do. I soon forget. I can't remember
His promises I quickly forget. I get worried and troubled and
this and that and the other. I can't remember to show mercy
like He tells me to. That's who's going to get mercy.
God never forgets. I can't remember my brother's
frame. God never forgets. I can't remember to be gracious,
to do good. God never forgets. I can't remember
to speak kindly. A word in season, God never forgets.
I can't remember to be selfless. I'm pretty selfish most of the
time. He never. He never. I can't remember
to thank others and be appreciative to others for the things they
do for me. God never forgets. He said, He's
not unrighteous to forget your labor of love. Even giving commendation
and appreciation, as it were, to those that do what He made
them do. Have you ever done anything for
someone, something generous and something sacrificial, and that
person did not respond or did not thank you? It hurts, doesn't
it? I've had it done to me, and I've
done it. And we'll do it again. But God, we're ready to pardon. Have mercy upon us, gracious.
We're ready to pardon. Love is the only thing that will
forget something like that. Love is the only thing that will
overcome a multitude, yea, every sin. But here's good news, and
I'm going to close. It's only been 30 minutes. But
here's wonderful news. Are you ready for this? I've
given you pretty much the bad news, what we are, and the good,
what God is. Here's good news. What we can't
forget, God can't remember. David said, My sin is ever before
me. Do you know anything about what
he's talking about? This gospel serves. David wasn't
talking, and I'm not talking necessarily about an isolated
incident. There are many of those. Not just one. There have been
many grievous offenses. Very grievous, shameful, singular
sins by every one of us in our path. But David is saying, all
my sin is ever before me. All I have ever done and not
done. We have sinned more in what we
have not done right. than what we've done wrong. We have sinned more presumptuously,
secret sins than actual sins. We have sinned more in a way
of not doing what we ought to do, what we should be grateful,
thankful, appreciative, serving children of our merciful God.
What we've not done and what we have done against Him, We
have sinned, when he says all my sin, my sin is ever before
me, all that I have done, all I have not done, all that I have
said, all that I have not said, all those years as an ungrateful
child, son, daughter, all that I have not said, all
the trouble I have caused, Not just myself, but others. The good I have not done, the
no good I have. All the trouble I've caused others,
all the trouble I've caused myself. David is saying, I am saying,
the sin that is before us is all that I have been, all that
I am now, and people, it's not over. Our sins are not over.
Our worst ones may yet make to come. Yes, it is. But all I ever
shall do is against God, but here's what
the faithful Lord says. I don't remember them no more. We'll bring them up. David asked the Lord two
things in Psalm 25. He says, Remember, O Lord, Thy
tender mercies. And then he said in the next
verse, Remember not the sins of my youth. I look back at my youth. in horror
and shame. But my parents don't seem to
remember. They don't seem to remember.
I bring up things all the time without the details, and they
don't remember. And you know, there are things
that I cannot blot out of my memory. I can't, to this day,
get over it. I can't blot it out of my memory. God says there's sins, I blot
it out. Blot it out. How? Blood. Blood, that's how. If you look back at your past
with great shame and regret, rejoice. Your sins are gone. I've got real good news for you.
If you have nothing but shame and regret, rejoice. Your sins are gone. Christ died. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Yea,
who is he that condemneth? Christ died. Rejoice. If you
look back with great shame, rejoice. If you look back with no great
shame, with no regret, rejoice. Your self-righteousness is forgiven
you. Do you understand me? Here's
two boys. One is a model child. He's been nothing but a good
son. I had two brothers. My oldest brother was a model
son. My other brother was a rebel to the core. Wasn't he, Mom? Who made the difference? My sister was a model child.
She was a daughter of the American Revolution. She was a role model,
a citizen, a good citizen award. I did not. I did not. Who may be to differ from another? Here's a Martha who never got
into any trouble, never done anything wrong, per se. A role
model as a child, a wonderful daughter, and a virgin until
the day that she's married. And over here's a Mary. Pregnant early. Has a baby at
a wedlock. Tries to find husband after husband. Married five times. And finally
living with a fella. Who made the difference? It will make a difference. The Lord in mercy and His purpose
and His providence allowed this one daughter to go astray and
to wallow in sin, and in great mercy and sovereign restraining
grace kept this one from bringing shame and reproach upon her family,
upon her God, upon herself. She had nothing to do with it.
Nothing to do with it! And yet she gets proud, she gets
self-righteous, she gets haughty, she looks down on them. Look,
I didn't do that. Who's the worst sinner? Mind
you. Who's the worst? This one that takes credit for
nothing that she's done. And this one that's weeping and
wailing. It's a great mercy. My sister,
as I said, the Lord had to show her she's a sinner. All the Lord had to do was wake
me up, and I was in the hub pen. I woke up in the gutter. Literally. She was in the pew. She had to
see herself. See her what? Her self-righteous
self. That is nauseous to God. Self-righteous. And it's great mercy. I'm not
so sure. Well, it takes the same grace,
same power to convict either one, but to convict that good
young lady or that good young man, that great mercy, great
power, great grace. Oh, my. Let me close with this. I quoted it to you in Jeremiah
31. I'll close with this, OK? If you want to turn there, Jeremiah
31. The Lord, in Ezekiel 16 and Ezekiel 36 especially, He said,
you're going to remember. You're never going to forget.
You're never going to forget your sins. And it's a good thing. You know that? It's a good thing
that we don't forget, that our sin is before us. It's a good
thing. Why? It keeps us broken. It keeps
us humble. It keeps us calling on God for
mercy. It keeps us loving this gospel.
It keeps us hearing this gospel. It keeps us coming back. Our
greatest need is mercy. And if we don't know we're centered,
we're not going to ask for mercy. Our greatest need is a sacrifice
on Calvary, a bloody sacrifice, a propitiation for our sin, and
that's Jesus Christ. If God doesn't show us our sin,
we won't need Christ. We'll think lightly of Him. We'll
trot underfoot His precious blood. We'll just pass by like it's
nothing to us. We'll hear gospel message after gospel message,
and it'll mean nothing to us. That's a high crime, isn't it?
That's a high crime. The very blood shed for our ungrateful
souls. is what forgives us that ingratitude. He said in Ezekiel 36, he said,
oh my, he said, you'll remember your own evil ways and your doings
that were not good, and you shall loathe yourselves and your own
sight for your iniquities, for your abominations, and you'll
be ashamed, and you'll be confounded. But here's what God said. You'll
never forget what you can't forget. Your sins. Here's what God said. In verse 33, this is the covenant,
Jeremiah 31, this is the covenant I'll make with the house of Israel.
And to those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their
inward parts, write it in their hearts, and will be their God,
and they shall be my people. They shall teach no more every
man his neighbor, every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord,
for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest
of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity
and will remember their sin no more." But we can't forget. God can't
remember. Anybody? Okay, let's stand and sing a
song. John, you have to write it down. What is it? 221. 221. Oh, that's it. Thanks.
221. Let's stand as we sing this. 221. Some thank the Lord for friends and home, for her
teacher and But I would praise Him for His grace, His prayer
I would repeat. Thank You, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank You, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank You, Lord, for giving to
me Thy great salvation so rich and free. Some thank him for
the flowers that grow, some for the stars that shine. My heart is filled with joy.