I want to continue this week
looking at the Psalms and I want to look at Psalm 106 and just
a couple of verses, verses 4 and 5 that struck me in this Psalm. Psalm 106, verses 4 and 5. 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." The Psalms give insight into
the experience of God's salvation. That which you feel, if you're
saved, it's not just something that you know, it's something
that you are, that you become, that you feel, that you experience.
And the Psalms especially give insight into that experience
of what it is to be a child of God, what it is to be saved.
It isn't mere doctrine, doctrine's good, but it isn't mere doctrine
acknowledged in the head, but it's that which comes down a
foot or so and gets felt in the heart. Is this relevant to you
today? All who are listening, is this
relevant to you? Or are there enough distractions
of worldly things all around you that you don't need to bother
about it? You know, I think it was in Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan's
Pilgrim's Progress, wasn't one of the characters called Mr.
Putidov? I can't remember whether it was the first book or the
second, but Mr. Putidov. Sounds like he's a Russian, Mr.
Putidov, because he used to put it off. Put off, put off, not
for today. I've got other things I must
do today. Like one of them, again I'm going to forget, was it Felix,
was it Festus, was it Agrippa? But one of them said, I'll put
it off to another day when I have a more convenient season. You're
almost persuading me that I'll put it off for today. Is this
relevant to you, this thing of salvation? Do you know there's
a day coming when it will be? There's a day coming when it
will be. There were two thieves on crosses, two criminals on
crosses, either side of the Lord Jesus Christ, when he was crucified. And they'd spent all of their
lives living for self. Everything they'd done had been
motivated by self. What could they get? It hurt
other people. It exploited other people. No
doubt they were hanging there on crosses because their crimes
had resulted in the death of others. I don't know what the
details were. But they'd lived for self entirely.
And now, they're about to die. They're nailed to crosses. They
cannot go anywhere. Nails are through their hands
and feet. They cannot do what they want to do. They're about
to keep that appointment that we all have, that appointment
that eternal appointment that we all have, every one of us,
it's appointed to man to die once, and then the judgment.
And all through their selfish lives, their lives that were
so damaging to everyone else around them, God's salvation
had held no interest for either of them, none whatsoever, until
now, when they're about to have this appointment. And one of
them continued to curse. and to say of Christ, if you
are who you say you are, get us down off this cross, if you
are who you say you are. For one of them he continued
to curse, but the other feared God. The other one of them feared
God. He said to the one that was cursing,
he said, do you not fear God knowing that we're in the same
condemnation and we justly, for we receive the due reward of
our crimes, of our sins, but this man in the middle of them,
This man, the man Christ Jesus, he hath done nothing amiss. And
he turned. The only thing he could do, turn
his head. His head wasn't nailed to the cross. His hands and feet
were nailed there. He turned to the Lord Jesus Christ and
he said this, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy
kingdom. And Jesus said, You know it so
well, Jesus said, Verily I say to you, surely, certainly, this
day you shall be with me in paradise. This day, his dying day, the
day of his appointment with judgment in eternity, this day you shall
be with me in paradise. Don't rely on last breath conversion. Don't say, oh, I'm going to do
like the thief on the cross did. I'm going to live for myself
and then on that deathbed, I'm going to turn and I'm going to
get all the benefits of the salvation of Christ for eternity. I'm going
to get all the blessings of heaven. No, don't do that. There are
two thieves. There was only one of them that
turned to Christ and said, Lord, remember me. The other one didn't.
He continued to curse. The other one died cursing. The
other one went to hell cursing Christ. Now whether the one who
said, Lord, remember me, knew it or not, Luke 23, verse 42,
Lord, remember me, echoes Psalm 106, verses four and five. Look at verse four, let's read
these verses. The psalmist cries out, 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." Is this not what the thief, the
one that repented, was crying out for? Lord, remember me with
the favor. You have a people. Remember me
with the favor that you bear to your people. Visit me with
salvation because now, oh, do I know I need salvation, you
know? you're saved when you know you
need to be saved, that I may see the blessings of being amongst
those people, the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in
the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance. Let's look at this, let's break
these portions down, because this is the plea This is the
plea of all of the people of God. All who are His people,
who come to know Him, make this plea, Lord, remember me. Lord,
remember me, because if you don't remember me, there's nothing
I can do about my eternal state myself. Lord, remember me. A plea for discriminating favor. Lord, remember me with the favor,
and the next bit's in italics, because the translators helpfully
put it there, and I think in this case it does. Clarify the
meaning. Remember me, O Lord, with the
favour that thou bearest unto thy people. Show me that favour that you've
shown to your people. God has a people to whom he has
shown discriminating favour. Lord, remember me with that favour. God has a people chosen out of
all humanity by grace. Do you know, this is the thing
that the natural, the religious human heart hates about the true
gospel of God's grace. More than anything else it hates
this, that God is sovereign. Oh, but it's not fair. He doesn't
give everybody a chance. God is a God of sovereign grace. God is the God of the universe.
He is the God who has a people whom he has chosen out of humanity. God is perfectly just in everything
that he has done. He will be vindicated as perfectly
just when he justifies this people to whom he has shown favor. None
will be able to say it was not fair. because God is perfectly
just in all that he does. He has a people. He has a people. You need to know this. The Apostle
Peter writes in his first epistle, chapter 2, verses 9 and 10, writing
to the people of God that are scattered, the scattered tribes,
he says, but you are a chosen generation. God chose you. You didn't choose me, said Christ.
I chose you. I chose you. You didn't decide
for me, I chose you. You are a chosen generation. How are you going to get to God?
You need a priest. You are a royal priesthood. You've got the marks of the royal
family of heaven. And yet you're priests, with
intercession into God's presence. You're scattered and dispersed,
but you're a nation. You're a holy nation. Do you
know anything of that? Don't we who believe the truth
know that? We're separated by thousands
of miles. We have the blessing of Christine
visiting with us this week. Thousands of miles apart, like
our other friends in different parts of the world. But in Christ,
you're a holy nation. You're citizens of the same kingdom.
You're united, you're of the same family. You're a peculiar
people, the world thinks we're peculiar in the sense of odd,
bizarre. Why on earth would you do that?
There must be something wrong with you. No, peculiar, distinctive,
separate, made separate by God, given different desires, given
different affections. For what purpose? That you should
show forth the praises of Him. You are the people who will praise
God. You will show forth the praises
of Him who has called you out of the darkness of the natural
state of humanity into His marvelous light. In a time past you were
not a people, but now you are the people of God. God has a
people. Oh, remember me, Lord, with the
favor that you bear to your people. You are now the people of God.
You had not obtained mercy. You didn't know anything of the
mercy of God. You were children of wrath, even as others. But
now, in the gospel of His grace, you have obtained mercy, chosen
out of the rest of humanity. Why? Why me? This is what the
saved soul says. Why me? I don't understand it. Look at my family. I don't understand
it. Where have I come from? Chosen out of the rest of humanity.
This is the people that Jesus came to save. Matthew 1, 21. Call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. He didn't come to offer salvation
to everybody. He came to save his people from
their sins. This is Jacob, whom God loved. When Esau, the rest, he left
to their own devices. It's what the scripture calls
hated. Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. Isn't that awful
that it says God hated? He left them to their own devices.
That's the same. Hated. Chosen in Christ because
God loved them. with an everlasting love, he
says in Jeremiah. I have loved you with an everlasting
love, from before the beginning of time, chosen by grace. Why? Reason? Because they would
choose me. Not at all. Nothing in them.
Nothing whatsoever. children of wrath even as others,
dead in trespasses and sins, chosen by grace, not by merit. For by grace are you saved, through
faith, and that, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, favoured
by God. Favoured by God. Remember me,
O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people.
God favours his people. Oh, that's not fair, cries religious
humanity. Well, think of it what you will,
but it's the way things are. God favours his people. He favours
his people. Jesus said to that little group,
we often feel like we're in a little group compared with the mass
of humanity outside, and he said to them, fear not, little flock,
for it is the Father's pleasure, it's the Father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. No, favoured by God, destined
for eternal glory. Destined for that. That's favor,
isn't it? Destined for eternal glory. When
you come to that moment, like that thief on the cross did,
Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Verily I say,
this day, to be absent from the body is to be present with the
Lord. This day, you shall be with me
in paradise. What about the judgment to come?
Ah, you're in me. You're in me. You'll stand before
that throne, clothed with the righteousness of Christ. But
what about all of these sins? What sin? What sin? taken it
away, as far as the East is from the West, saved from condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus, because they are made the righteousness
of God in Christ, in Christ, in Christ. It's being in Him
that makes His people the righteousness of God in Him. I don't believe
it's a righteousness just that Jesus earned as a man. He perfectly
obeyed the law, but I don't believe that that's something that he
saved up and then gave to his people. This is the righteousness
of God, the inherent, the inherent innate nature of God. His righteousness is made over
to his people in Christ. It's by grace, not by works,
and it's discriminating. That question that we often ask,
the question posed by Job, how shall a man be just with God?
Only by being numbered with God's favoured people. That's how.
How shall a man be right with God? Only by being numbered with
God's favoured people. Lord, remember me. Lord, make
it clear. This is what the prayer is. Lord,
I know you have a people, and you favour them, and they're
not going to come into condemnation, and they're going to enjoy the
bliss of eternity and the other blessings we'll see later. Am
I amongst them? O Lord, that it might be that
I am counted amongst your favoured people. It's one thing to read
God's word and accept that he has a favoured people, but am
I among them? This is the question, isn't it?
Am I among them? If I am among them, then all
is well with my soul. And if I am not among them, I'm
in eternal peril. And if I'm in eternal peril,
what must I do? I must flee to Him. I must plead
with Him. Have mercy upon me. Without God's
favor, I'm alone in my sins. We read in Romans 3 verse 19
earlier, Now we know that what things soever the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law. Outside of Christ you're
under the law. You're accountable to it. You're
responsible for your actions before it. You will be judged
against it. And The law says this to everyone
under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
may become guilty before God. Outside of Christ, outside of
God's favour, I'm alone and guilty with my mouth stopped because
I've got nothing to plead. I'm stripped of my self-righteous,
filthy rags that I try to make me right with God, my mouth is
stopped, I've got nothing good to plead, I'm held responsible
for my own law debt, and I haven't got the least farthing with which
to pay anything. And I come to an end of myself.
Absolutely to an end of myself. You couldn't come to a sharper
end than that thief on the cross did. He'd come to an end of himself. He saw that there was no hope.
No hope. Like the prodigal son. An end
of himself. Absolute end of himself. Nothing
else that he had. All he could do was go and plead
for mercy. Like that thief on the cross. Remember me, Lord.
Like the hymn says, I looked to see if we've got it in our
hymn book, but we haven't. Pass me not, O gracious Savior. Hear my humble cry. Whilst on
others thou art calling, do not pass me by. Oh, please do not
pass me by. If God has put that longing in
your heart, be sure. Now listen to me. If God has
put that longing in your heart, be sure that he is determined
to satisfy it. A plea for discriminating favor.
Remember me with the favor that you bear to your people. And
then the next clause, oh visit me with thy salvation. This is
the plea of the one who's seeking. Visit me with your salvation.
Please visit me. Visit me. What does it mean to
visit? In the United Kingdom, I think the meaning of the word
visit is somewhat different to what it is, well, at least in
the south of the United States. You see, Don Faulkner can come
and stay in our house with us and he can share food with us,
and he can be in our company. But then he'll say, come on,
let's come and visit together. I think, well, you're already
visiting. No, no, no, I'm talking Southern USA. I'm talking about,
let's sit down together, and let's talk to one another, and
let's enjoy one another's company. And let's chew over the same
things mentally whilst we're relaxing together. Come and dwell
and sit down and talk and eat together and unite in company
and visit with salvation is what this is saying. Don't just like
a UK visit, you know, you go and visit a place and you touch
it and move on. This is a come and sit down. Come and visit
me with your salvation. Unite together. Let's talk about
these things. Let's talk about being saved.
Let's talk about being rescued. Let's talk about being put in
a safe place. A place that is safe from death. A place that is safe from hell.
A place in which our doubts and our fears and our guilt and our
condemnation, fear of wrath to come, That we're in a place where
we're saved from all those things. Visit me with your salvation.
This is what it is to be saved. It's to be plucked out of that
ocean, out of that raging storm, where if somebody doesn't save
you, you're gonna die because you cannot swim against that
tide. You cannot swim, you cannot survive that storm. You're going
to die unless someone come and save you. Let's talk about that
salvation. That salvation of God. Salvation. Salvation, you know, a lot of
religious folks present it as if it's for everybody without
exception. But do you know the scriptures
don't say that? The scriptures don't say that. The scriptures
say that salvation is only for those who are lost. Jesus said,
I came to seek and to save everyone. No, he said, I came to seek and
to save that which is lost. That which is lost. Those who
are the objects of God's salvation know they're lost. They know
they're lost, they've come to an end of themselves. You know
the little boy who's fascinated with his surroundings, he goes
wandering off. Let's say the family's gone out
for a picnic. And he goes wandering off in the woods. They're in
the woods having a picnic. He wanders off and he's having a great time
looking at this thing and finding things. You know how little boys
love to play with stones. And they find these stones and
it's, oh, it's such a gem. You know, just an ordinary stone,
but it carries such fascination. And he doesn't realize it, but
he's lost. He's wandered off. And the family
doesn't know where he's gone, and he doesn't know where he's
gone, until he realizes, I'm lost. And then he screams out,
Mommy, Daddy, I'm lost. He knows he's lost. He's only
lost, really, when he knows he's lost. And it's like that with
salvation. You know that you're lost. Jesus
Christ came to seek and to save that which is lost. You know,
he invites people to come to him. But you know, Our Lord Jesus
Christ doesn't invite everyone without exception to come to
him. He says, come unto me, all you that labour and are heavy
laden. Not the rest. You're not labouring,
not heavy laden, under a burden of your own sin. That come unto
me doesn't apply. He says, come to me, you who
labour and are heavy laden, under a burden of sin, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you, you will
learn of me. My yoke is easy, my burden is
light, but come to me knowing that you're burdened, knowing
that you're lost. And with this salvation, visit
me with thy salvation. God's salvation, with it comes
the things that accompany salvation. If it truly does come, if God
truly does visit us with his salvation, the things that accompany
salvation, Hebrews 6, 9, the things that accompany salvation
come with it. God writes his laws in his favored
people's hearts. He has a people who he favors,
and he writes his laws, he writes the principles of his gospel
of grace in their hearts. He gives his people a tender
conscience. That's an old word, isn't it?
It means a sensitive conscience, a feeling conscience. That's
what he gives his people. Do we make the law void through
faith? No, rather we establish the law through faith. He gives
his people a tender, feeling conscience. Not that conscience
of which Paul writes to Timothy. Those who have a seared conscience,
seared with a hot iron, cauterized. It's burnt, you know, it's a
very very crude treatment of an open bleeding wound and the
battlefield is to cauterize and you burn it and it seals the
blood vessels and it's a seared thing but with it goes all feeling. There's no feeling there, there's
no tenderness. All feeling's gone because the burning iron
has cauterized it. No, a tender conscience is one
of the things that accompanies salvation. God gives a broken
heart, for a broken heart and a contrite spirit he will not
despise. He gives a true, filial, son-like
fear of our Heavenly Father. That sort of fear of God, which
is the beginning of knowledge, he gives that. He gives a desire
in the heart to be right, and to avoid that which is wrong.
And though we may fall, and God's children do fall, and often will,
and we sin every day, we cannot stay in a fallen state. We must
flee from the wrath to come. No, there's no antinomianism
in God's salvation. God's salvation is gracious,
blessed, glorious, but there's no anti-lawlessness in God's
salvation. No. Our Lord Jesus Christ, says
John, was manifested that he might destroy the works of the
devil. Would he then save people so
that they can carry on living and giving the devil the comfort
that all of his works continue to prosper? Not at all. To be
visited with God's salvation It involves being afflicted.
Oh, visit me with your salvation. It involves being afflicted.
Isaiah 48 verse 10, I have chosen thee, says God, in the furnace
of affliction. Jesus said to his disciples,
count the cost. Count the cost. Don't set out
unless you've counted the cost. There's a cost to being a disciple.
Count the cost. What accompanies salvation is
being afflicted, it's being tried. Psalm 11 verse 5, the Lord tries
the righteous. The Lord tries, tests, proves
those whom he makes righteous in Christ. The Lord makes hungry
and thirsty for righteousness those whom he puts in Christ,
that they might be constantly filled with the blessings of
the gospel of grace. The Lord puts them into a sacrificial
place, a self-denying place. 1 Peter 2 verse 5, his people
are to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Have you prayed? As the psalmist
prays here, visit me with thy salvation. Visit me. Oh, that's
the prayer. Visit me with thy salvation.
God says that he will be inquired of by the house of Israel. Ezekiel
36, 37. He says, I will be prayed to
by the people of God. I will be asked for these things
by my people, by my favored people. Why? Read the end of the verse.
To do it for them. I will be inquired of because
I intend to do it for them. Visit me with thy salvation.
Why does he put it in our hearts to pray that, if he's given you
a desire to pray that? Because he's determined he will
do it. He will show you his salvation.
He will come and visit you with his salvation. Seek And ye shall
find, said Jesus, and blessings shall result from it. Remember
me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people,
O visit me with thy salvation, that in order that, so that,
blessings will result, blessings will result, verse 5, that I
may see the good of thy chosen, that I may see the good of thy
chosen, that I may rejoice with the gladness of thy nation, that
I may glory with thine inheritance. These are the blessings that
come with salvation, seeing, rejoicing, glorying the good
of thy chosen, seeing the good of thy chosen. Not as a spectator. You know, you can watch a football
match. You can watch a cricket match as a spectator. You're
not involved directly in it. No, this is seeing as first-hand
experience. There was a False prophet in
the book of Numbers called Balaam. And he said that he saw, but
not near. I see afar off, but not near. No, this is seeing near. This
is first-hand experience. This is seeing with eyes, spiritual
sight, anointed with gospel eyesalve. In Revelation 3.18, writing to
the Laodiceans, who were lukewarm and God said, I'll spew you out
of my mouth because you're neither hot nor cold. He says, come and
buy from me without money and without price, as he says in
Isaiah 55. He says, anoint your eyes with
eye salve, eye ointment that you may see. You've got clouded
vision. Put this eye ointment on your
eyes that you might see gospel truth. Seeing with eyes anointed
with gospel eye salve. that I may see the good of thy
chosen." Seeing the consequences of the favor that God bears to
his people. God bears favor to his people. Oh, that I may see the good of
the ones that you have chosen out of this fallen race of humanity
whom you have chosen and given to your son before the beginning
of time. Seeing the consequences of the
favor that God bears to his people. That which the natural man cannot
see. Because it's spiritual things. The things of the Spirit of God,
they're spiritually discerned. The natural man cannot see them.
They're spiritually discerned. It must be by the Holy Spirit
giving that sight. Knowing and seeing what we are
by nature. Knowing what our true state is
in the flesh. Knowing the justice and holiness
of God. Knowing how God truly, if he
is who he says he is, must judge sin and must condemn it. Knowing
that there is wrath. And in the midst of all of that,
seeing the good of thy chosen. Finding that pearl. as the scriptures
call it, that pearl of greatest price, against which all other
pearls are just worthless trash. They're just rubbish. They have
no value. If you don't have that one pearl
of greatest price, none of the others put together can ever
come close to it. The pearl of greatest price is
in Christ. It's the gospel of grace in Christ. It's that gospel which shows
us the good of the chosen of God, that given what they are
by nature, given what they are in sin and in their true state
in the flesh, here is the pearl of greatest price, which is the
gospel of His grace. It's the satisfaction that He
has made for His people, that He has justified His people,
that God has remained just, perfectly true to His word and His principles,
and at the same time has justified those who are sinners, so that
they're declared righteous, so that they're clothed with that
righteousness, with that holiness that they must follow, for without
which no man shall see God, and he's clothed them with it. This
is the good of thy chosen. Seeing all of that handwriting
of ordinances, of laws, of statutes that were against us, nailed
to his cross and taken out of the way. Those things that would
condemn us before the judgment seat of Christ, taken out of
the way and nailed to his cross, so that there is therefore now
no condemnation in Christ. This is the good of his chosen,
this is the good of it. This is what it is, as another
psalm, 32 verses 1 and 2 says, blessed, blessed, seeing the
good of God, blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered, the one to whom God does not impute iniquity,
who does not credit iniquity, blessed is that man. Is that
not the good of God's chosen? Oh, that I might see. If you
visit me, if you, Lord, visit me with the favor that you show
your people, if you visit me with your salvation, if we come
and sit down and you show me and you talk to me about these
things, oh, then I'll see that good, how blessed it is to be
that man whose sin is covered, whose transgression is covered.
to whom the Lord does not credit, does not impute iniquity. That's
good. Good food is precious, more precious,
when you've experienced hunger. If ever you've experienced serious
hunger, you know, it says, I can't remember where, it's probably
in the Proverbs, about the one who lives like a glutton and
who is able to stuff his mouth with anything that his heart
desires, grows to the state where he despises his food. Oh, but
to the starving man. Oh, the starving man, the simplest
food is just luxury. It's just wonderful. Good food
is precious when you've experienced hunger. Rest in Christ is sublime
when you've experienced the dread of judgment to come. So that
the Psalmist says, I will both lay me down in peace and sleep,
for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. Oh, what glorious
rest there is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Is this not the good
of thy chosen? The good of thy chosen to be
able to lie down and sleep in peace, knowing that God makes
us dwell in safety. I'm talking about things of eternity.
That's the good of thy chosen. And then there's another consequence
of it. Rejoicing in the gladness of thy nation. Rejoicing with
the gladness of thy nation. We were told earlier on by Peter
that the people of God, scattered though they may be, are a holy
nation. 1 Peter 2 verse 9. They are a
holy nation. Oh that I may see the gladness
of thy nation. This nation is not, this nation
of God is not is not a sad, frustrated, sorrowful nation except over
its own sin, but is glad in the Lord, glad in him. Isaiah 61
verse 10. I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord, says the one who knows this truth of the gospel of grace.
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful
in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe
of righteousness." Isn't that beautiful language? But don't
just stop at the beautiful language. What does it mean? Does it mean
it for you? Does it mean it for me? I will
greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He's
covered me with the robe of his righteousness. Philippians chapter
3, verse 3. For we are the true circumcision.
We are the true circumcision, the true people of God, who worship
God in the Spirit. We don't worship God in a cathedral,
in a place. We worship God in the spirit.
Those who worship him must worship him, as Jesus told the woman
by the well, in spirit and in truth. We are the true circumcision,
the true people of God, who worship God in the spirit, who rejoice
in Christ Jesus. Rejoice in him. Oh, praise God. Praise God, we rejoice in Christ
Jesus and all he's accomplished for his nation, for his holy
nation. Rejoicing with the gladness of
thy nation and then finally that I may glory with thine inheritance. God has an inheritance, it's
his people. As Christ goes into heaven, as
those gates are lifted up, lift up your heads, O ye gates, lift
them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come
in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts, the Lord strong
and mighty. He goes out to do battle and
returns to heaven. He comes to take his people to
be with him. Here am I, says the scriptures,
quoting Christ speaking to his father, here am I and the children
that thou hast given me. the children that the father
gave to the son, their glory, their glory in that inheritance,
with that inheritance of God, with the people of God. Jeremiah
9, 23 and 24, Thus saith the Lord. You see, people like to
glory in things. Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom, in his worldly qualifications, neither let the mighty man, the
strong man, glory in his might, Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that
he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which
exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Have you experienced
these things? Have you tasted and seen that
the Lord is good? Are you destined? Have you desired
to be right with God? Have you cried out, as this psalmist
cried out, as that man on the cross cried out, Lord, remember
me? If so, you can remember him. We're going to remember him shortly
in the bread and the wine. We're going to remember him in
those symbols. of his broken body, of his shed blood, of that
which accomplished the salvation of his people. Lord, remember
me with the favor that thou bearest unto thy people, or visit me
with thy salvation.