If you wanna follow along, I
will be in the 103rd Psalm. Psalm 103. And I'm gonna begin
reading in verse 19, excuse me, verse 14. 219. Psalm 103, verse
14. For he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass,
as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind
passeth over it, and it is gone. And the place thereof shall know
it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting, upon them that fear him and his
righteousness unto children's children, to such as keep his
covenant and to those that remember his commandments to do them. The Lord hath prepared his throne
in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all. Title is he remembers we are
dust This is a psalm of David The first words of this psalm
are this bless the Lord. Oh my soul The last words of this psalm
are I Bless the Lord, O my soul. That's the first words and the
last words of this psalm, and those are some great words. When
he says, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within
me, bless his holy name. That's verse one. It is good
to praise the Lord. It is good to express and proclaim
the blessedness of the Lord. David wasn't blessing God, he
was expressing his praise at God's blessedness. I've heard preachers on TV have
a bad tendency to bless people. Well, Walter read a few weeks
back, the less is blessed of the better. We need the blessedness
of God. He doesn't need our blessing.
But we praise him. It's good to praise and bless
his holy name. And in this world today, it's
about as rare as hen's teeth. What do I mean when I say that?
Like I said, I've heard preachers on TV, they bless the Lord all
the time. No, they don't. They don't. because here's the thing, they
don't know the Lord in order to praise him. And that becomes
evident quite quickly from their sermons on television, on the
radio, and in pulpits all around us. Because here we have the
sweet psalmist of Israel, we have David, a man after God's
own heart. David blessed the Lord God who
hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. David blessed the Lord
who makes his people willing in the day of his power. David
blessed the Lord who made David himself admit and acknowledge
and sorrow for his iniquity and his transgressions. David blessed the Lord who showed
David he was shapen in iniquity and born a sinner. David blessed the Lord who did
not delight in the burnt offerings. David blessed the Lord who delighted
in a broken and contrite heart. David mourned the death of his
son and blessed the Lord who took that son from him. David blessed the Lord who told
him that there was none good. None that doeth good, no, not
one. I'm gonna tell you something,
the world does not know this Lord. And it shows it every day. Because he, the Lord, remembers
that we are dust, we are dust. But verse 14 starts with this,
for he knoweth our frame. He knows our form. The Lord knows the form and the
frame of our physical bodies. It talks about that. For as for
man, his days are as grass as a flower of the field, and the
wind passeth over it, and it's gone. We are a few years and full of
trouble. Physically, he knows us better
than we do that we are earthen vessels. We are clay pots, and
actually, we came from the dust, and we're going to return to
the dust unless Christ comes before that. We all are. We are all clay pots, we are
hard, but brittle. We're not hard to dip, scratch,
or break. You know, in my family, I can tell you
about broken toes, broken feet, broken legs, broken arms, broken
fingers, broken hand, broken wrists, broken collarbones. Now
granted, there were eight of us, so it was spread out. The Lord remembers where it does.
He knows our frame. He knows what we are. But that's
not all, because when I looked at this word, it's not used many
times in the Old Testament, but five of those times, it is used,
it is translated as the word imagination, or image. What do I mean by that? Well,
beyond our physical frame, The Lord knows our mental frame. I'm talking about, there's an
expression you might have heard. Your frame of mind. Your frame
of mind. Which I'm sorry that I have to
break it to you. Our frame of mind is no better
than our frame of body. As a matter of fact, some ways
it's worse. Because we have the same concern with our mental
processes. Why? We're cursed. We're under a curse. And that
curse not only affected our physical bodies, it affected our brain. It affects the way we think.
We are cursed, we are sinners, and because of that, we sin. We sin. There's a couple of songs,
I've actually got one written down here, where it says, this
was written by a guy named Benjamin Beddoe, who I don't know, but
I like this song. I almost sent it to you, Walter,
and decided to use it here. How great, how solemn is the
work which we attend today. Now for a holy, solemn frame,
God to thee we pray Even as believers Those who know
Christ those who trust Christ those who believe his word those
who love his gospel those who come to church We need divine help to worship
God Now Right now, right here, I'd
like to have a holy and solemn frame. We need divine help to bless
the Lord, oh my soul. Now, in that context of physical
and mental frame, we look at the next statement. He remembers. that we are dust. He remembers
that we are dust. Our frame of mind is so poor,
we forget. We forget, but the Lord remembers. We are dust, we are dust. Now,
I know the wording here, which is the Lord remembereth, talking
about the Lord remembering that we are dust. I am making no implication
And the scripture does not say that God has forgotten anything,
and now he's remembering that we're dust. No, the implication
is this. We forget, but God remembers. We forget, I forget, you forget. God never forgets, but God remembers. God remembers. Because here it is, even when
Not if, when we forget, he remembers we're dust. Yes, we are prone
to forget. Now, what are we prone to forget? You name it. We can probably
forget it. I'll forget my physical frailty. Not alone my mental frailty,
but I can forget my physical frailty. I think right now that
I can still do a cartwheel. I did one a couple years ago,
but I haven't done one for a few years. And somehow or the other,
for some reason, my wife has forbidden me to try to turn cartwheel. I love that woman. But you understand, I think that. I can forget my physical frailty,
that sometimes I have problems getting up out of bed. Sometimes
I have problems after driving just an hour and a half to Pocahontas
County, getting out of the truck. But he remembers we're dust. We are prone to forget. We forget
scripture verses. I can forget whole sermons. and
I suspect you have too. But see, I preached them. You
understand, and I'm not joking about this, this is serious,
it's somehow a little funny, but on my way home, I have forgotten
sometimes what I preached that morning. And I have to ask Debbie,
or I have to think back and remember, oh yeah, that's what it was.
That quick. That quick, I can forget, but
he remembers we're dust. He remembers we're dust. I think I'm smart. You know why? Because I forget I'm dumb. That's why. That's why. I think
I know things. Why? Because I forget my ignorance. We speak before we think. He remembers we're dust. We speak
sometimes instead of thinking. But he remembers we're dust.
We speak when we should listen. We act before thinking. We act before considering the
consequences. He remembers we are dust. We
run when we should walk. We walk when we should stand.
We stand when we should sit. And we sit when we should go
home. We come when we should go. And
we go when we should come. He remembers we are dust. You understand, here's my point
here. Of ourselves, as we are, even
as believers, we're always wrong. And God is always right. He remembers wherever you go,
wherever you are, even sitting here in an assembly, trying to
hear the gospel preached, trying to have a holy and solemn frame,
You're dust. We're all dust. And he remembers. I can tell you this, I can even
forget verse 10 of this Psalm, 103rd Psalm. This is a great verse, I'm gonna
tell you. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins. What do you wanna put on the
end of that? He remembers that we're dust. Nor rewarded us according
to our iniquities. Thank God. Thank God. He remembers we're dust. He remembers
we're dust. If I can forget a verse like
that, if you can forget a verse like that, what's wrong with
us? Earl said it many, many times
that I still remember. He said it used to make people
mad, some people. I was depraved, I am depraved, and I shall be
depraved until I awaken his likeness. But thank God when I read it,
I can rejoice in this verse. And I pray to God, don't let
me forget it again. We can forget that. but the Lord
never forgets. He remembers, he remembers. He
knows our frame and he remembers that we are dust. Now, I'm not
gonna keep you too much longer, but understand this. He didn't
say he remembers we're rock. He didn't say he remembers we're
not stone. He didn't say we're not even
shale. He doesn't say that. We're not mud, we're not even
dirt. He remembers we're dust. Dust,
you know what dust is? Dust doesn't matter. Now granted,
if you're cleaning the house, dust matters. But don't look
at my house, all right? Because there's stuff she can't
reach that I don't dust. Okay? And we got two cats and
a dog. So not only do we have dust,
we have hair, but that's not the point. He remembers that
we're dust, we're nothing. What is it? Less, less than the
small dust of the balance. It's not even worth brushing
off, because it's not going to affect the balance one way or
another. Understand, we've had people get mad because we talk
about human beings being worms. Jacob, thou red worm. What does
that word? Thou maggot. That's worse than being called
dust, I think, because maggots are disgusting. Well, dust is nothing. And he
remembers that we're dust. We're dust. In and of ourselves,
we are nothing, and the Lord remembers it. And he remembering
this, you understand, Lord's remembering this on purpose.
This is not an afterthought. This is not just because God
can't forget. He remembers us. And he remembers
that we are, we are dust. And here's the thing. If the
Lord remembers that you are dust, it's because you are dust. What else can you say about that?
What else can you say? What? For the wind passeth overeth,
and it's gone. And the place thereof shall know
it no more. We went up to the woods on vacation.
The leaves are changing. And I love it. It's beautiful.
It's a nice cool morning, a nice cool day, and a pretty blue sky
over orange and yellow leaves. But you understand, those orange
and yellow leaves are dying. And I love it when the wind comes
through the trees and the leaves just fall all over the place.
And I don't have to rake them. I can drive my car over a mason
and they blow behind me. I love seeing, I love hearing
that noise. But you understand, every leaf
that's on the ground is dead. I remember them, but they're
still dead. Well, the Lord remembers us. Why? We're dust, but we're not
dead. We're not dead. What conclusion?
Bless the Lord, oh my soul. He knows our frame. Bless the
Lord, oh my soul. Why? He remembers that we are
dust. Verse 17, but the mercy of the
Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. upon them that fear him and his
righteousness unto children's children. The Lord's mercy and
loving kindness is everlasting, and I love that, everlasting
to everlasting. You don't know what that is.
That's the definition of the word eternity. That's eternity. Understand, the Lord has remembered
we are dust from the beginning. And he's had mercy toward us,
what? From the beginning. His mercy shall stand and glory,
glory dwelleth in my Emmanuel's land. But you understand, God's
mercy has always stood. His loving kindness has always
been toward his people. And the reason being is we have
Redeemer There's a reason he has not dealt with us after our
sins Because he has dealt with our Redeemer after our sins There's
a reason he has not nor rewarded us according to our iniquities
He's not saying we don't have iniquities. We don't have sins.
We don't have transgressions. We have them But he's dealt with
them in our Redeemer He's dealt with them in the Redeemer the
Redeemer And I wanna point it out, not just a redeemer. The Lord of hosts is his name. The redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel. Because a redeemer is not good
enough. Matter of fact, there's a special
redeemer we needed, and the Book of Ruth tells us about it. We needed a kinsman redeemer.
We needed a kinsman redeemer. And the Lord, God Almighty, the
Father, sent forth his son and took upon himself, the son did,
the form of a servant. And he's still wearing that form
of a servant today. He ascended to the Father bodily
and was accepted by the Father, and where's he sitting? The Lord
hath prepared his throne in the heavens. He is seated, I hate
that. He is seated at the right hand
of the majesty on high. And his kingdom ruleth over all. Oh my. I want to read this, I
didn't want to quote it wrong. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin. He knew no sin. That we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Now if you have a
problem with made him to be sin or made him sin, if you wanna
leave that to be out, I'm not going into that. It's what it
says, that's what I believe. I believe the scripture. God
said he made him sin, he made him sin. And that's all there
is to it. I don't have a problem with any
of it. Because what God says is right. He remembers we're
dust. He remembers we're dust. But
I love how it says that. It says we were made in him righteousness. The righteousness in him. You
understand? Now we were made righteousness
by him, But that's not what it says, it says in him. And I like
that in him stuff. Why? In him we live and move
and have our being. In him we want to be found, in
him. In him all fullness dwells. And we are complete in him, in
him. Here's the thing. The Lord remembers
that we are dust, but the Lord knows His Son. The Father knows
His Son. Oh my. In Him, believers have
mercy and grace and love. He remembers we are dust and,
and, We are in his son, we're in his son. Because the kinsman
redeemer, think about it, the kinsman redeemer, our near kinsman,
calls us brethren, brethren. And you know why? Because brethren,
in him, we are, we are. By His grace, whatever I forget,
He remembers. If it comes a time when I lose
my mind, when my frame of mind has no framework at all, the
Lord remembers, the Lord remembers. Bless the Lord, all His works
in all places. Thank God the Lord remembers,
the Lord remembers. Heavenly Father, Lord, thank
you for all you've done, for all
you do, and all you shall do, because the Lord knows we need
it all. We are dust. Help us to remember
our frame and our frailties. Thanks, Lord, most of all. For
your Son, our Redeemer, our Savior, our Lord, our King, he rules
over all. And rule in our hearts and help
us to walk in thy way. And we'll give you all the honor
and the praise and the glory for it is your work from the
beginning. Amen.