♪ Who is heaven but me? Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. ♪ ♪ While on earth you now are going,
do not pass me by. ♪ Okay, go back to Psalm 106. This
whole psalm is a great blessing. I know you were probably blessed. I wasn't just reading it. I know
I was again. But this short prayer in the
beginning of this psalm is what jumped out at me, what stuck
with me. After our brother read it Wednesday,
I've been thinking about it ever since. Verses 4 and 5. We don't
know who the writer is. We think it may be David, but
it matters not. Whoever says, Remember me, O
Lord, with the favor that Thou bearest unto Thy people, O visit
me with Thy salvation, that I may see the good of Thy chosen. that
I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory
with thine inheritance." This is a very personal plea. A heartfelt cry by someone, David,
whoever. Mine. I hope it's mine. I hope
it's yours. May each of us pray this, Lord. Remember me. Remember me. Visit me with Thy
salvation. I looked out and saw everyone
was singing that hymn, Pass Me Not, even our young people. And
I thought, boy, I hope they mean that. If you do, the Lord won't pass
you by. He'll remember you. And I hope
all of us, this end begins with a prayer and ends with a prayer.
Verse 47. Save us, O Lord, our God. Gather
us from among the heathen to give thanks unto Thy holy name,
to triumph in Thy praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
from everlasting to everlasting." And I hope when this is over,
every one of the people, all of us in here will say, Amen. Praise the Lord. The whole psalm
is a confession of sin. In verse 6, whoever wrote this
says, We have sinned with our fathers. We've committed iniquity. We've done it wickedly. We've
done whatever Israel did. We've done it. And do it. And we'll do it. We all have
sinned. Our great sin. He says, praise
the Lord. Verse 1. Praise ye the Lord.
Hallelujah. I hate to hear people use that
word. That is taking God's name in
vain in the worst manner. You know, these modern psalms
that they've made, hallelujah, I despise it. Thou shalt not
take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Hallelujah means
praise the Lord. That should not come from these
lips unless we mean it from the heart. Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Why? For He's good. He's good. He's made His goodness pass before
us, hasn't He? What's His cheap goodness? Verse
1, His mercy. Endureth forever. His mercy. He said, I'll make My goodness
pass before you. I'll proclaim the name of the
Lord, the Lord, the Lord God. Mercy on them. Gracious. Ready
to pardon. He's good. His mercy. As I said,
this whole psalm is a confession of sin. A long confession because
our sins are many. The sins of Israel were many
and great, but as sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Where
sin abounded, nevertheless, God's grace is never the less than
our sin. In verse 2, he says, Who can
utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can show forth all
His praise for their many. Who can? None can. That's why
Paul said, who is sufficient at this time? Are we going to
stand up and try to utter the mighty acts of the Lord? A half
has never been told. One sermon can't do it. A lifetime
of messages won't do it. But I know who will. You know
who will utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who will show forth
all His praise? Listen to this. In the ages to
come, He's going to show the exceeding riches of His grace
and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. He's going to.
He's going to. And so He says in verse 3, Blessed
are they that keep judgment. Judgment means understanding. It means discernment. Fool has
said no, God. How blessed are the people that
He has given judgment to, understanding. He made His ways known unto them. How blessed with peace, with
joy, with comfort, with glory, whose minds are stayed on Thee,
whose mind and affection is set on things above, who are not
as a fool, who have no understanding, but have some discernment, some
understanding of God's great goodness and mercy, and those
who doeth, he that doeth righteousness at all times." The Lord said
He shall set us in paths of righteousness,
doesn't He, for His name's sake. But I think this reminds me of
Psalm 73 a little bit, the first part of Psalm 73. We know David
wrote this. He said, Truly God is good to
Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart, like back there,
blessed are they that keep judgment, that doeth righteousness at all
times. But David said, But as for me,
But I know they're blessed who have good judgment, who keep
righteousness, keep judgment and doeth righteousness. And
God is good to Israel and such as are of a clean heart. But I believe he starts thinking
about his own unrighteousness and his own sin. And he says,
but as for me, is there hope for me? Is there hope for me? And so that's why I believe he
utters in the very beginning this little short prayer. Starts
thinking of his own sin. He starts thinking of the children
of Israel, their sins, and how they provoked the Lord so very,
very much. And how He provoked the Lord.
And he uttered this prayer. And here it is. Back in Artek,
verse 4. Remember me, O Lord, with the
favor that Thou bearest unto Thy people. Remember me. Remember me. It says in verse
7, Our fathers understood not the wonders in Egypt. They remembered
not. They remembered not. They forgot
the multitude of His mercies and provoked Him. Down in verse
13 it says they forgot His works. Verse 21 says, they forgot God
their Savior. But blessed be His name. Verse
44 says, nevertheless, He regarded their affliction when He heard
their cry, and He remembered for them. They forget, but He
can't forget. He can't deny himself. He remembered
for them. His covenant, he remembered for
them. This is speaking of the mercies
of a covenant God. You're reading that book right
now, aren't you? John Warburton's Mercies of a Covenant God. This is the favor that God has
blessed His people with. He asks to remember Him with
the favor that He bears unto His people. This is the favor,
the unmerited favor. What's that? That's grace. Grace
is unmerited favor. God favors His people with mercy
and with grace. It says, Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. Noah found grace, and so do all
His people. Like Mary, do you remember? The
angel of the Lord came to Mary and says, Blessed art thou, Mary,
highly favored. among women. Not above them,
but among them. And we're no less favored than
Mary are. No less favored. He's appeared to us, and Christ
has been formed in us. Oh, blessed are those who have
found favor with the Lord. We don't do God a favor. God
owes us no favors, but God shows us favor. Grace is unmerited
favor. Remember me, O Lord. O Lord,
include me. I want to be among your people
that have found grace in that eye." That's what he's saying.
God's glory is the glory of His character, the glory of His great
grace, the glory of His great mercy, how He delights to show
mercy. That's what He told Moses, wasn't
it? And Moses said, Show me your glory. He said, Okay, I'll be
gracious. I'll be merciful." Didn't he?
That's his great grace that he shows mercy even to the chief
of sinners. If the chief of sinners in his dying breath says, Lord,
remember me, he'll do it because he's ready to pardon. He delights to show mercy. He
waits, Isaiah said, to be gracious, ready to pardon. And whoever
asks for favor will find it. Whoever asks to be remembered,
he'll never forget. God's glory, listen to this,
God's glory is in what he can't forget, his covenant. And his glory is in what he can't
remember, our iniquity. Do you hear that? God's glory is in what he can't
forget. His covenant. And His glory is
in what He can't remember. Our iniquity. You see, our sin
is that we can't seem to remember His Word, His covenant, His mercies,
His promises, His command, His precepts, His ordinances. We
can't seem to remember. How quickly we forget. Just like
the children of Israel. That is our sin and that is our
sorrow. But God's glory and our salvation
is He can't forget. He can't forget His Word. He
can't forget His covenant. He can't forget His promises.
He can't forget what His Son did. He can't do it. He can't
do it. We cannot seem to forget our
sins. We can't forget our iniquity.
We can't forget our past. We can't get over our guilt.
God can't remember it. God's great glory and our salvation
and our peace will be thinking on this, that He said their sins
and their iniquities, I'll remember no more. No more. So His glory is in what He can't
forget. His covenant, His Word, His promises,
the blood. And His glory is in what He won't
remember. Our sins, never. Even the chief
of sinners, the poorest and the weakest. Why? Why? Because of his great love. Why? Because his covenant It's ordered
in all things and sure. Why? For Christ's sake. And he
remembered. Like David did of Jonathan, didn't
he? He loved Jonathan as his own
soul. I almost got sidetracked on that again. I started thinking
about that, how David remembered Jonathan. And I went over there
and started reading that, 2 Samuel 9. And staying about didn't get
away from that. Spent a good hour just looking
at that. Had to go back. Our Lord remembers His covenant. He can't forget His people. He
can't. He can't forget. He remembered. He remembered His covenant with
His Son. Like Noah. The first time the
word remember is used in Scripture is when it says, And God remembered
Noah. and every living thing with Him
in the ark." That's the first time God remembered Noah. Noah
found grace. God remembered him. The second
time is God remembered Lot inside of him and brought him out by
His grace. He can't forget. He can't forget.
That's His great glory. Listen to this. Isaiah 49 says
this. It says, forget her sucking child? That
she should not have compassion on the son or the daughter of
her womb? Can she? She can, can't she? Can they forget? Yes, they will.
But God says, I won't. I won't. He says, I have graven
thee on the palms of My hands. I can't forget. That's our comfort. Though my father and my mother
forsake me. The Lord will take me up. And then he says, I'll
never forget you. No, never. No, never. No, never
forget you. That's our comfort. I'm so thankful
God's not like us. Aren't you? I'm so thankful God's
not like a man. David said that, didn't he? When
Nathan was reminded him of all that God had done for him and
what all God was going to do for him. David said, is this
the way of man? No, it is not. Man's not like
them. And he went out and sat before
the Lord and he said, great is the Lord. How great is our God. I'm so thankful God's not like
us. We seem to only forget We forget the good, don't we? And
we only remember the bad. That's us. We can have friends
for years. And they'll slip up and they'll
offend us. Or else someone will accuse us
before them. And we forget them and write
them off forever. Thank God there's a friend that
sticks closer than a brother. Thank God. Thank Christ He is
that friend and doesn't make us an offender for a word. He
will never cast us out. Hebrews 11 is the story of all
of God's people. Sinners, every one of them. Sinners like Jacob. Sinners like
Rahab. Sinners like Samson. But not
one sin is mentioned. All of their sins were long forgotten,
and the Lord only remembers the good concerning them and commends
them throughout that whole chapter. He can't remember the bad. He
only remembers the good. That's His glory. I'm so thankful. This God is my God. Happy is
he that hath the God of Jacob for his help. Because he says,
Jacob, I will not forget you. I will not forget you. Oh my,
listen to this, Psalm 78. You can turn if you want. Wonderful,
wonderful Psalm 78, verses 38 and 39. Well, this whole Psalm,
if you want to read it, is just like Psalm 106. Just like it.
Another rehearsal of their great sin and God's great grace. Verse
38 says, verse 37, "...their heart was not right with him,
neither were they steadfast in his covenant. But he, being full
of compassion, forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not. Yea, many a time turned he his
hunger away and did not stir up all his wrath." He remembered
that they were but flesh. Thank God, as a father pitieth
his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. He knoweth
our frame. He remembereth. That were just
dust. We're just dust. He remembers
our frame. Oh, my. Oh, my. And then he says here
in this prayer, Remember me, O Lord, with the favor you bear
unto your people with thy great unmerited favor and grace. And,
O, visit me with thy salvation. Visit me with thy salvation.
David said in Psalm 2, he says, What is man? Psalm 8, that is. What is man that thou art mindful
of him? Huh? What is man that God would
even think on him, let alone visit him? Come down here to
earth, great condescension that God would become a man and visit
his people. Great! But his delights were
with the sons of men. Rejoicing in the habitable parts
of the earth, his delight were with the sons of men. And here's
Zacharias' great praise and prayer to the Lord. It says, He has
given knowledge of salvation unto his people for the remission
of their sins, and through the tender mercy of our God, the
day spring from on high hath visited us, to give us light
who sit in darkness, in the shadow of death, to guide our feet in
the way of peace. The day spring has visited us.
The sun of righteousness has arisen with healing in His wings.
Oh, my. And so whoever wrote this says,
Lord, visit me. Would you visit me? Every single
person who asks, every single person who seeks the Lord, every
single person who from the heart seeks Him and asks Him, the Lord
will pay them a visit with His salvation. There was
a vast crowd of people going. Well, the Lord came. He was coming
to Jericho. And on the way in, one blind
man sat by the wayside begging and cried out. A blind man, mind
you, a beggar at that, in rags. And the great Lord of glory is
passing by. And he cried out, Jesus, thou
Son of David, have mercy on me. He said, stop. The son stood
still and called him and healed him. And then he passed through
that vast city of Jericho and had no mercy on anybody in it,
showed no grace to anybody in there. And on the way out, he
set a beeline, a straight line toward a tree. a sycamore tree. And went straight to that tree
and looked up in it and he said, Zacchaeus, come down. Make haste,
come down, for I must abide at thy house. This day is salvation. Come to this hour. I'm coming
to pay you a visit. And things were never the same.
Never the same. Oh my. Visit me. Would you visit
me? I want to be like Obed Edom,
who said, let me have the ark. Let my house have the ark. We'll
keep it. We'll take care of it. We'll
keep it. And oh, the Lord bless the house of Obed-Edom, for the
ark's sake. Lord, visit me, visit me with
thy salvation, that I may see, verse 5, here's what we'll see,
here's what we'll experience when he shows us his favor, when
he visits us with his salvation, that I may see the good of thy
chosen. Lord, remember me. Remember me
with the favor You've shown to Your people. And visit me with
Thy salvation, that I may see the good of Thy chosen." The
goodness of God is how He chose a people. That's the goodness
of God. You know, most people, they see
that as totally unfair of God. They don't see anything good
in that. They think it's unfair. But all of God's people. See
it as the great goodness of God that He would choose anybody,
especially me. Jacob had no trouble with Jacob
have I loved and Esau have I hated, did he? No. Oh, he could not
understand, though, one part of that. He could see how God
would hate Esau, but he couldn't understand how God would love
him. Oh, my, the goodness of God is
how He chose the people, His sovereign election. That's what
He said once again. I'll make my goodness pass before
you. I'll be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I will show
mercy to whom I will show mercy. It's my sovereign right, but
I will show it to those that don't deserve it. I've chosen
people. But lest anybody say it's unfair, He chose not one,
but a number which no man can number. One with, you remember,
at one time in heaven there was one person. There was one sinner saved by
grace in heaven at one time, Abel. That was it. What was he singing? At the top
of his lung, on the bottom of his heart, singing of God's great,
sovereign, electing mercy and grace to him, the sinner. One
man. One man. Then there were two.
Then there were three. A thousand. A billion. A number
which no man can number. So God is not unfair. God, that's
His goodness. Oh, my. Lord, visit me that I
may see the goodness of Thy chosen, that I may be one of Your chosen.
Visit me with Your salvation, that I may see the goodness of
Your mercy, Your grace in Christ Jesus our Lord, that I may see
the goodness. the good things that he hath
prepared for his chosen people." Oh my! He said, enter thou, blessed
of the Lord, into the things that I have prepared for you.
I want to see those things, don't you? The goodness. Read on. Remember me with that favor.
Visit me with thy salvation, that I may see the good of thy
chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation. Does
the gospel give you glad tidings? Is the gospel glad tidings to
you of great joy? Rejoice, that I may rejoice,
it said. Rejoice with the gladness of
thy nation. Do you remember this over in
Hebrews? Oh, we're His house if we hold
fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope steadfast to the
end. Oh Lord, don't ever let me lose
my first love. Don't ever let me become lukewarm.
I would that I were hot or cold. Don't let me become lukewarm
or lose my first love. Lord, I want to rejoice with
those that rejoice. I want to be glad when they say
to me, let's go to the house of the Lord. I want to experience
the gladness of donation. You know how glad the people...
When the Lord brought them out of Egypt, He brought them out
with a high hand, and they rejoiced with gladness and singing. Oh
my, they were dancing, they were shouting, they were singing praises. Here it is, here it is, in Isaiah
61. This is what our Lord first said
and spoke and read when He came to Jerusalem that day. He said,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He hath anointed me to preach
good tidings unto the meek. He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captive, the opening of the prison to
them that are bound. The acceptable year of the Lord.
God is accepting all applications for mercy. the day of vengeance
of our God, to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that
mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of
joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the Spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called the trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that He might be glorified." Oh, Lord, visit me. I want to rejoice in that gladness.
When's the last time you rejoiced in this gladness? Huh? Oh, Lord,
visit me. We need to pray this prayer right
now, don't we? Or else there will just be another sermon.
Just another sermon. Lord, visit me that I may rejoice
in the gladness of Thy nation. And lastly, he says, Lord, remember
me with that favor. Visit me with Thy salvation that
I may see the good of Thy Chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness
of Thy nation, and that I may glory with Thine inheritance. Lord, remember me, that I may
glory in Thine inheritance. God's people glory in the Lord. They that glory, glory in the
Lord. They glory in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's how you know. They glory
in His great work of redemption. They glory in His work. They
glory in His person. They glory in His sovereign saving
grace. They glory in His mercy, in His
grace, in His love and kindness. They glory in His redemption.
They glory in Him. Everyone in glory is glorying
right now, in His singing, His praise right now, beholding His
glory. Isn't that what Christ said,
Father? I will, that they who now has given me be with me where
I am, that they may behold My glory. that they may behold my
glory, Lord. Visit me. I want to be there. I want to be there. Remember
me. When you come into your kingdom, don't leave me behind. Remember
me. I want to be with you. Lord,
visit me with Thy salvation. Let me see the good of Your chosen. Let me rejoice in the gladness
of Thy nation. Let this be glad tidings to me
and never take it for granted. Don't let me be like the children
of Israel who forgot, who forgot, who forgot. And you know, the
Lord soon forgot some of them. Yes, He did. Yes, He did. Don't let me be like that. Lord,
remember. In wrath, remember mercy. Go back and pray. Oh, remember
me, Lord. I want to be remembered. Remember me. And I want to see
something. I want to rejoice in something.
I want a glory. with your people. I want to be
there in glory. Oh, Lord, remember me. I want
to be in that great number. Don't you? Remember me. Oh, I
know a man who is the greatest thing he ever heard when the Lord arose from the
grave. Before that, Simon Peter had
denied the Lord, hadn't he? Not once, not twice, but three
times. Acted like he didn't know Him.
Terribly denied the Lord. And went off in shame and wet
and bitter tears. And then, not long after that,
he said, I'm going fishing. I quit. I was just going to forget
this whole thing. And then some of the disciples
came to him, some of the women came to him and said, the Lord
is risen indeed. And he told us to come and he
told us to tell his disciples, Matthew, Bartholomew, Thaddeus,
Thomas, Jude, John, James, And Simon Peter. He said, especially
remember Simon Peter. You go tell him to meet me. I'm going to come meet him. He remembered him. Peter acted
like he didn't know him. and tried to forget everything.
But the Lord couldn't. Couldn't forget him. He can't
deny himself. He can't deny himself. You love that Scripture, don't
you, John? If we deny him, yet he about is faithful, he can't
deny himself. And if you're in him as he is,
so are we. He can't deny Himself. Lord,
remember me. Visit me with Thy salvation,
that I may see the goodness, that I may rejoice in the gladness,
and that I may be a part of Your inheritance. Oh my, my, my. Some of you may not know this
story I call I rang on the phone today for her to remind me of
this story. John Davis was traveling to,
well he went to West Virginia and then he went down to Pikeville
to a conference there, didn't he? Brother Tom Harding's conference. And from there he went to Irene's
hometown to visit her family who he knew years ago. And he
knew Irene years ago. And he visited her family, and
he came in that place and passed through. Well, Irene heard that
John had passed by. And I guess there was a little
spark of love still there, I reckon. You reckon, John? Is it still
there? But anyway, John went home, and Irene said, told me
that she'd always wanted to apologize to John for something. And anyway,
it wasn't long until John paid her a visit. And here they are,
married, happily ever after, I hope. Well, for whom he did
foreknow, whom he knew long before, love was an everlasting love.
He did predestinate. He called. Made them repent. Made them sorry with His salvation. He called. And He marries them
off. He can't forget them. Whom He foreknows, He can't forget.
He remembers them with this great salvation. Calls them by His
gospel and calls them unto Himself, makes them fall in love with
Him and someday will be with Him, be with the Lord forever. Happily ever after. Oh Lord, remember me. That's
my prayer. Is it yours? Remember me. Visit me. Would you? I want to
be in that number. Okay. Stand with me. And our Father, thank You for
Your blessed Word. It gives us hope. It gives us
comfort. It gives us peace. It's the Word
of Thy salvation. Good news. Good news. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Glad
tidings. Lord, make it glad. Make it good
news to us. Make it joy and rejoicing of
our heart. Let us not be as the children
of Israel who forgot, forgot, forgot. Lord, we have, though.
We have sinned with our fathers. We've done all these things.
But Lord, remember Thy covenant for us. Remember. For Christ's sake, remember the
blood. Remember. And we believe you will. It's
in Christ's blessed name we've met here tonight. Amen.