Let's go ahead and get started.
If you would, turn with me to Psalm 13. Psalm 13. Bet you all thought I was going
to say Psalm 23, didn't you? Psalm 13. I'm going to read the
whole Psalm. How long will thou forget me,
O Lord? Forever. How long wilt thou hide
thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel
in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall
mine enemy be exalted over me? Consider and hear me, O Lord
my God. Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep
the sleep of death. lest mine enemies say I have
prevailed against him, and those that trouble me rejoice when
I am moved. But I have trusted in thy mercy,
my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the
Lord because he hath dealt bountifully with me. I want to go through this psalm
and see what the eternal God And I want to stress that, the
eternal God and what He is saying to us right here. How long will
thou forget me, O Lord? Then is added forever. I am reminded
of a passage when I read this psalm, Jeremiah 31.3. The Lord
hath appeared of old unto me saying, yea, I have loved thee
with an everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee Now this passage in Jeremiah does not say that
God does always remember us or that he has forgotten us either
one of those But it does say he loved us with an everlasting
love I Would have to say there is some remembering going on
there wouldn't you I? God Almighty tells us He has
always loved us. Because of this, He will draw
us unto Himself. There is no doubt here of what
God will do. It is sure. It is as sure as
the God who said it, because God does not change. We are born
into this world. We are conceived into this world
being enemies of God. We, when we were born, did not
seek God. Again, God does not change. If
He ever knew me, He has always known me. Malachi 3, 6, we read,
For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. The only reason God's people
are not consumed is because He does not change. We know that
the scripture teaches that God chose his people in Christ before
the foundation of the world. But yet we read here, how long
will thou forget me, O Lord? We never read in scripture where
it says God forgets his people. It does say he remembers us,
and Job preached on that not too long ago. It's not that He
has forgotten us and now He remembers. No, He remembers even when we
forget Him. And I'll be honest with you.
This is the only way I can see me in this passage or us in this
passage. And it's this way. It is us who
have forgotten Him, and we are mistaken that He has forgotten
us. So it causes us to cry this out. How long will thou forget
me, O Lord? As I said, we are born into this
world enemies of God, and we are not seeking God. We do not
know Him, nor do we want Him to reign over us. We really,
up until a certain point in time, did not know Him at all. But
then there comes a time when He causes us to know Him. God does not change. And we cannot
change ourselves. What do we read in Jeremiah 13,
23? Can the Ethiopian change his
skin or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good that
are accustomed to do evil. It is us who must change. But we have no power in ourselves
to do such a thing. It is He who must change us. When He does, then we will begin
to think He has forgotten us. But it goes on to say, how long
will thou hide thy face from me? You know, this is something,
it feels like anyway, that I cry out daily. It seems to me when
God opens my understanding and I think about crying this out,
that I am doubting God and what he tells me in his word by thinking
such thoughts. Are you like this? Maybe not
everyone is like this, but I am. But why should there be any doubt
when we read in Scripture again, Jeremiah 31, 3, the Lord hath
peered of old unto me saying, yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn
thee. God Almighty pulls us right up
close to himself and wraps us up in his arms, in his right
arm to be exact, whereby his power we are always kept. And
we know who this right arm is, don't we? Jesus Christ has us
in His hand, and God has Jesus Christ in His. We are totally
secured. I remember when Earl used to
do that, you know. We're totally secured there.
Then we have verse two, let me read that again. How long shall
I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How
long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? I have not had sorrow in my heart
daily. There was a time when I could
care less about who God is or about my soul. I thought I could
establish my righteousness before him and be accepted. I was arrogant
and full of pride. And having this old man, I still
have bouts with this. I don't have to look into this
world to see rebellion against God. Rebellion is all around
us for sure. But I don't have to look outside
of myself. I can see it in myself. Although
I do not suggest you continue to look at yourself, you will
find no good there. But it also says, how long shall
mine enemy be exalted over me? Mine enemies? I have no doubt
being a child of God that his enemies are also mine enemies.
But at one time, I'm afraid even now in this flesh, I even do
as Gomer did. I mistake God's kindness and
I give it unto his enemies the credit for that which he has
done. Hosea 2, 5 we read, for their
mother hath played the harlot. She that conceived them hath
done shamefully, for she said, I will go after my lovers that
give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and
my drink. But it is God that has given
all this. The bridegroom who gives to his people everything
they need. I in this flesh devise idols
whom I give credit to for giving me gifts, those gifts that sustain
me. When all the time it is he that
has loved me from before the foundation of the world, and
I have forgotten him. I want you to understand me.
I do want God to remember me. I do want God to show me His
face forever. I do have sorrow of soul. I do
wish to have mine enemies vanquished. But I could in no way cry out
these things if it were not my Lord who hath been put in the
place of crying this out in my state. Remember, God is eternal. He does not change. So let me
just get right to it. I can see Christ speaking here.
That time when God turned his back on his son, Jesus cried
out for help, but there was no help coming. Have you ever cried
out to God for help? And I mean real help. I'm talking
to God's children. Have you ever cried out to the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? The God of Scripture, knowing
your everlasting soul depends on His help. We do cry out to
Him because He is the only one that can help. What happens when
we do this? Romans 10, 13, God tells us,
for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. Help will always come. When you
come to God in this way, that is, you come to Him pleading
for the Son to smile on you and love and save you, it says right
there in Romans 10, whosoever calls on the name of the Lord
shall be saved. Are you calling on the name of
the Lord? It's not a one-time thing. If
you are not still calling on Him, I'm afraid you never called
on Him to start with. We always call on the name of
the Lord. There may be a time when we first
begin to call on his name. But once we do, if he has worked
that in us, then we will always and continually call on his name. When we do, we shall be saved. That's what God's word tells
us right there in Romans. So he is always right there ready
to pick us up when we are in need. We are in need all the
time. But God Almighty forgot or He
turned His back on the Son, and this He did on purpose. It is what God purposed to be
done. My God, my God. The Son, even
when the Father turned His back on Him, the Son still acknowledges
Him for who He is. He did always do those things
that pleased the Father. He cries out, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Did God the Father forget the
Son for a time? That's what it says. He on purpose
forsook the Son, but not forever. But he did for a time, and God
is eternal. So the son, I see, cries out,
how long will thou forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long will
thou hide thy face from me? Forever? Not forever, but long
enough so that our sin would never be seen again of the Father. God the Father turned His back
on the Son when He was made sin for me, and our sin remains behind
His back for all eternity, for all of those in Him. So the Lord
has not forgotten us, for it was the Lord who was forgotten
in our stead. And I will have to confess to
you, there is a lot there that I don't understand. Remember,
God is eternal and He does not change. Yet God in the face of
Jesus Christ was made sin and died. I do not understand that
at all. How that could possibly be other
than this. God was pleased for it to be
this way. Because if he was not pleased
for it to be this way, then it would not have happened that
way. But another thing that I do not fully comprehend He was also
raised. Turn with me to Romans 4. Romans
4. Romans 4 and I want to read verses 16 through
25. Romans 4 verses 16. Therefore, it is of faith that
it might be by grace. To the end, the promise might
be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the
law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who
is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made
thee a father of many nations before him whom he believed,
even God, who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things
which be not as though they were. who against hope believed in
hope that he might become the father of many nations, according
to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And being
not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when
he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness
of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he
was able also to perform, and therefore it was imputed to him
for righteousness. Now it was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also to whom
it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised
again for our justification. All that to read that last verse
there. He was raised for our justification. Acquittal. Jesus Christ in raising
from the dead and we dying with him, right? We died with him.
We know that that's what the scripture teaches. We died with
him and we were raised with him again. We are now acquitted. freed from all charges. We are
then dead to His law and made right before God. Because of
what the Son did, this is how He can love us, just as He loves
the Son, that spotless Lamb who was slain from before the foundation
of the world. The misery that our Lord must
have felt. He who knew no sin being made
sin for us. How much sorrow do you think
he must have had bearing our sins in his own body? He who
was too holy to look upon sin was made the very thing he despised. Seeing his soul being such darkness
and black, he whom had the whole world as his enemies, even his
own, who despised and rejected him. The sovereign God of all
things did the very thing needed to set his prisoners free. Forget
us? I think not. He has loved us
with an everlasting love, and we see it manifested there. 1
John 4 and 9 tells us that. And this was manifested, the
love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten
son into the world that we might live through him. He, in all of this, still looks
to God and gives praise to God for what He does. The Son trusting
in the Father, knowing He would raise Him again. The Son having
faith, that is, He believed God and trusted God the Father more
than any other human being could. He did this because He is God. He is the author and finisher
of faith. Now let's read verses five and
six again here. But I have trusted in thy mercy,
my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the
Lord because he hath dealt bountifully with me. Now here I can see myself out
crying this out to God. But not because of anything in
me, that is in my flesh. I can cry this out because He
trusted the Father on my behalf for His mercy. He rejoiced in
that salvation because it pleased Him to do this for a people whom
He loved with an everlasting love. Have God forgotten His
people? Listen to these verses. Isaiah
44, 21 and 22 we read. Remember these, O Jacob and Israel,
for thou art my servant. I have formed thee, thou art
my servant. O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten
of me. I have blotted out as a thick
cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins, returning
to me, for I have redeemed thee. But also read this. If there
is anyone who hears me that has any doubt of what I'm telling
you being true or not, hear this again from Isaiah 49, 13 through
15. Sing, O heavens, and be joyful.
O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains. For the
Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his
afflicted. But Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me, and my
Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking
child that she should not have compassion on the son of her
womb? Yea, they may forget. Yet will I not forget them. There will be those who will
one day ask to be let in. These who do this, those who
say, I have prophesied in thy name. I have cast out devils
in thy name. I have done many wonderful works
in thy name. I, I, I. Those who think they
will get to God by what they do or those who will say one
day, I, I, I. Those he will say to one day,
I never knew you. I have totally forgotten you
and in fact have never known you. Depart from me, ye workers
of iniquity. All of your I, I, I work is iniquity. But his people will never be
forgotten of him because of the comfort he would send for them. We are clothed in the righteousness
of Jesus Christ by what he did on that tree. We are hid under
his skirt. When God sees Christ, he sees
me. When God sees me, he sees Jesus
Christ because I am covered in his righteousness. As I've already
said, God is holy and we are not. Scripture tells us God does
not change so God will not change for us So that he might accept
us. You know the way we are for who
we are We must be holy for he is holy We are full of iniquity
as we are born in Adam Holiness and iniquity will not exist in
unity so something has to change and it will not be God and God
will change us, and He does this because of the work done by the
Son in being forsaken of God the Father. We by his work are
then changed. Those who were not righteous,
those who are not holy, but clothed in all manner of unrighteousness,
he changes." Zechariah 3, 4. And he answered and spake unto
those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy
garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold,
I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will
clothe thee with a change of raiment. So we have here in this
Psalm, Psalm 13, a God whom we are born forgetting, but if we
are one of His, He has never forgotten us. He has never forgotten
us, but it is not because of what we have done, because we
could do nothing. If we did anything, it was a
filthy rag, righteousness, which God could not look upon. But
it is He who purposed in His mind to do something for a people.
He is the never-changing God who on purpose is the God who
is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Him being this,
then we are loved by God with that same everlasting love because
it is He who died to take away our sins. In Him doing this and
raising to life again changed us and clothed us in His righteousness. Our filthy garments of rag righteousness
have been removed. I stand before Him right in everything
I am in Christ. So how long will He forget us?
He will not forget us and has never forgotten us. This because
He said He would not. Because he forsook himself instead. God forsaking God. Right there
are some very high ways there. When we hear such things as this
spoken in Scripture, we are hearing about ways that are high above
our ways. And that right there is one of
them. And we can't even explain it.
We're just told that they are so. All we can do is believe
what he says. Now I know forsaking and forgetting,
even in the different passages, have different meaning. In our
text, the word forget means this. Forget means from want of memory
or attention at all. And the word forsaken in Psalm,
I just looked up in Psalm 22-1, has these meanings. Forsaken,
it means to forsake. But another word it can be translated
into is refuse. So there can be a difference
between these words. And I'm not saying that is not
important because there may be some important differences there.
But God on purpose forsook the son. He refused the son, so the
son was from want of any memory or attention at all. There may
be times when I may feel that God has forgotten me, or that
God has forsaken me, but if you're one of his, it simply is not
true. Now he may ignore you for a time,
so that he might correct you, Joe, as Joe was saying earlier,
to cause you to look to him afresh and anew, forgetting self But
he will never forget you and he will never forsake you Because
of all the work he has done. I will and can cry this out My
heart will rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the Lord Because
he has not forgotten us What has he done? And this is my title
because he hath dealt bountifully with me He has treated me well. Here's another thing we can jump
for joy about. I thank my God through Jesus
Christ, my Lord, that He will always remember me. Because of
the work He, in the face of Jesus Christ, has wrought out my salvation,
all of it being by and through His Son, Jesus Christ. Oh God,
don't let me forget that. But even if I do, Lord, remember me. Amen. Dear Lord God, apply these words
to our hearts. Be with us. In Jesus Christ's
name, amen.