remembered in our low estate,
remembered in our low estate. Psalm 136, this Psalm emphasizes
the enduring mercy of the Lord. It is unique and different from
all the other Psalms in that every single one of the 26 verses
ends with the same statement. 26 verses, 26 times we read,
for His mercy endureth forever. And this morning we're looking
at verse 23, where the psalmist, speaking of the Lord, of course,
says, who remembered us in our low estate, for His mercy endureth
forever." Remembered in our low estate. When we read in the Bible
about the Lord remembering, we have to be careful not to bring
Him down to our level, to our thinking. When we use the word
remember, We're usually referring to something that we've temporarily
forgotten and in time it comes into our memory again and we
say I remembered. For us to remember is something
that is occasioned by a fault in us known as forgetfulness. Because we unintentionally and
helplessly forget things sometimes, then later we'll remember. But
God has no such fault as to forget things. You say, well, now he's
forgotten our sins. The Bible says he cast them into
the sea of his forgetfulness. No, you didn't read that in the
Bible. You've heard it many times. But
the Bible never once says that God has forgotten our sins. You do find this verse, thou
will cast our sins into the depths of the sea. But it didn't say
anything about it being the sea of God's forgetfulness. You won't
read anything about God forgetting. Because to forget is a fault
and God has no faults. What he said is this, their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more. Since God can't forget, he chooses
to remember no more. And that's far better, far better. Because you see, if God had only
forgotten about our sins, it might come back to him one day. But since he said, I will remember
them no more forever, that's final. And that's far better
than forgetting. So we asked then, what does the
Bible mean when it talks about God remembering? What is it for
God to remember? Well, this verse says that he
remembered us. in our low estate. It means he is pleased to bring
something to his immediate attention, to the forefront of his mind.
Back in the book of Genesis, chapter 8, just after the flood,
the Bible says, and God remembered Noah. Not that he had forgotten
about Noah, That's not it. But that it's time for the floodwaters
to dry up from off the earth so Noah and his family can get
off the ark and go on with their lives. So it simply says God
remembered Noah. In Psalm 103, verses 13 and 14,
like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth
them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame, and
remembereth that we are dust." That doesn't mean that he had
forgotten that we're dust, but it just means that he is ever
mindful of the fact. And like as a father pitieth
his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. And here
in our text, Psalm 136.23, the Lord the psalmist says of God who
remembered us in our low estate. The overall subject of this psalm
is concerning the Lord's remembrance of Old Testament Israel in their
bondage in Egypt, in their wanderings in the wilderness, in their wars
at various times, And the psalmist says, where we were in those
times and places, the Lord didn't leave us there forever. He remembered us. He remembered us. Aren't you
glad this morning that the Lord remembered you and never left
you where you were and where he could have left you so many
times? And what a contrast this is.
his remembrance of us in the midst of our forgetfulness of
him. And it seems to be a never ending
thing. He never forgets us. We continue to forget him. But
it's a blessed, blessed thought here. Remembrance, remembrance. Then he describes the condition Israel was in and that we are
in when he remembers. He has remembered us in our low
estate. This is what we're looking at
this morning, our low estate. Remembered in our low estate. He's the God that remembers. Oh, yes. Not only could the Israelites
say this, But every one of us could say it. He remembered us
in our lowest state. He remembered us in our lowest
state, first of all, of deep depravity. What does that term mean? It
means because of sin, man has, by nature, neither the ability
or the will to turn to God. Because of sin, there is a natural
hostility in the hearts of all humanity against God. By nature, men hate God. And they'll tell you, oh, I don't
hate God. But what they mean is they don't hate their God.
They don't hate that little God they've got made up in their
mind. But oh, the God of this Bible is another story. Sinful
nature doesn't hate God just because he is God, but it's a
matter of pride to confess that we need God. Most people, sad to say, and
most church people even, don't really believe that they need
God. And except there be an effectual
working of the Spirit of God, men neither can nor do they will
to seek after the Lord. By nature, it just don't happen.
Because of sin, the natural man is spiritually dead. That's what's
wrong with folks that you don't understand. Why? They don't have
a heart for the Lord. Why they don't have any respect
for his word or his house. Why they don't come to church.
They're dead to these things. And those who, and we find this
even among a lot of religious folk, those who refuse to believe
what really happened in the Garden of Eden. that man died spiritually. People refused to believe that
it was that fatal. And because of that, they are
satisfied with a so-called salvation attributed partly to God and
partly to themselves. And sadly today, that's what
most people believe. But how blessed it is to live
with the assurance in my heart that I am where I am by God's
appointment. I love Ephesians 1.1. Paul said,
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. He says, I didn't
choose this road. I didn't select this for myself.
This is the will of God. And I want to say to you this
morning, I look back over my life and I see nothing but miracle
after miracle after miracle of God's grace. I never put myself where I am.
I haven't kept myself where I am. I've never claimed to be worthy
of the honor and the blessing God has put in my life. But I thank God he's been there.
He's remembered me in my lowest state. I often think of what
Preacher Huntley used to say. He'd say, I just lean on the
Lord and let the devil howl. And he will howl. He will howl.
But thank God the Lord has remembered us. In ourselves, we confess
by nature we're a pitiful lot. depraved by sin, both in heart,
mind, and will, but God, but God. Well, the thing of depravity
is this. A wrong view of a disease will
always bring wrong views of a remedy. If you go to the doctor and they
don't diagnose correctly what's wrong with you, then they're
not going to prescribe correctly what will help you. A wrong diagnosis
of a disease always brings wrong views of a remedy. And religion has taught people
the opposite of what this Bible teaches, that they're spiritually
dead and have nothing in themselves to recommend themselves to God.
People are not being told that. They're being told, you're a
pretty good feller. Oh, you need just a little bit of polishing
up. And you'll be good as they come.
Oh, Lord. Know what? We need just a little
bit of uncovering to be able to see that we're rotten as they
come. That's the deal. That's the deal. Now, the Bible clearly teaches
that because of sin, By nature, man is spiritually dead. Romans
12 and 1, Paul said, wherefore has by one man sin entered, and
death by sin. That one man was Adam, sin entered,
and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned. That is, we've all sinned representatively
in Adam. We are what he was. In that sense, we are Adam. We
are Adam. And Paul wrote to the church
at Ephesus after the Lord had quickened some and built a church
there, built a family of believers. Paul wrote to them. And in the
second chapter, in the first verse, he says, here's how all
this came about. And you, believers, hath he God
quickened, made alive, which were dead in trespasses and in
sins. The Bible tells us also that
by nature man is bound in sin. Paul wrote to Timothy and said
this, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves,
if God's pared venture will give them repentance to the acknowledging
of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the
snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will."
Wow. I'll tell you, the devil got
a lot more power than most people give him credit for. We're no
match for him. God is, but we're not. By nature, men are blind and
deaf. Mark 4, 11, but unto them that
are without All these things are done in parables that seeing
they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and
not understand. Religious institutions call themselves
churches are full of folk like that this morning who hear but
don't hear, who see but don't see. I want to tell you it takes
God to quicken. to open eyes, to open ears, to
know and understand anything about His truth. And of course,
that's what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2.14, that by nature man is unteachable,
he's uninstructable. He said, the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. They are spiritually
discerned. Neither can he Know them. Because of sin, man is naturally
sinful. People think they're sinful because
of what they do. No, you do what you do because
you're sinful. Sin is in the nature. It's in
the nature. David said that so clearly. Psalm
51 5. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity. I was conceived in sin. Did my
mother conceive me? In other words, I was in bad
shape before I ever got here. It wasn't a matter of me growing
up to a so-called age of accountability, deciding whether or not I'd be
a sinner. No, he said, I was ruined before I was born. And
so it is with you and so it is with I by nature. It's the state
of the natural man. So we can ask and every one of
us can answer these questions. Can a dead man raise himself?
No. Can a bound man free himself? No. Can a blind man open his
eyes? No. Can a deaf man open his ears? No. Can't do it. We referred to this verse just
a week or two ago. Jeremiah said this in Jeremiah
13, 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin? Can the leopard change its spots? Can a black man decide he wants
to be white and make it happen? No. Can the leopard decide it
wants to be some other animal and get rid of its spots? No.
And then Jeremiah went on to say, if that can happen, then
may you do good who are accustomed to doing evil. People talk about,
well, I've got to get my life straightened out. I want to tell
you, there's just as much chance of a leopard pulling his spots
off and decide he's going to turn into a camel or an elephant. Just that much a chance of you
straightening your life out. It ain't going to happen. It
takes God. It takes God. Oh, yes. The religious world today denies
that it's not in man's ability and power to turn to God. And what that does is makes those
of us who have supposedly turned to God smarter than the rest
of the world. You see? If man can do it, then
you are smart enough to do it and others are not. And we know
that's not the case. We know it's the Lord. Paul said
it clearly in 1 Corinthians 1. He said it pleased God that not
many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen, it's by
his choosing you see, God hath chosen foolish things to confound
the wise, weak things to confound the things which are mighty.
He chose the unlikely. Why did he do it all that way?
He told us in that same passage, verse 29, 1 Corinthians 1, that
no flesh should glory in his presence. He did it that way
so he would get the praise for redeeming his people. I know
a lot of folk today set on going to heaven think they're going,
claim they're going, who absolutely are not ready to give God all
the glory for it. Huh? Well, my thinking is they
ain't going. They ain't going. Or at least
this, before they're in His presence, what part they thought they had
in it will have long since disappeared. Because I promise you, in His
presence, All glory and praise is unto Him. Unto Him. So now I'm asking this morning,
why is it you're here? Seeking mercy from the Lord. Knowing you need Him. I want
to tell you something. It's not because of your doing.
It's not anything in your old rotten nature. It's because God
hath remembered us. in our lowest state. He surely
has. How low was that estate? So low,
so very low, that we couldn't even think consciously and seriously
about needing God. We couldn't convince ourselves,
nor could we be convinced by anyone else, that we were really
that bad off. And when we consider this morning
that God could have left us there, and millions are there, and there'd
be nothing we could do about it or would want to do about
it, I'm telling you, we ought to be the most thrilled crowd
on earth this morning that God hath remembered us in our lowest
state. There's never been a generation
in time in the history of the world when
life was so complicated as it is right now, and so stressful as it is right
now. We've got more technology, more
devices, more comforts, more conveniences, enough remotes to fill up a bushel
basket. Instant this and instant that, but we've got more dangers and
difficulties and fears than ever. Somebody here this morning is
right now walking through dark troublesome times. You say, we
all are. Yeah, well, you're probably not
getting it then. But somebody here this morning
is really in the midst of a deep, dark place. And you're
wondering if you're going to survive it. Well, I promise you, without
the Lord, you won't. You'll just be one more statistic. But here's the blessed thing.
He's not forgotten. He don't forget. He remembers
you in your lowest state. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I would say Old Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, when they were cast into that fiery furnace,
heated seven times hotter than usual. I would say that was a
pretty low estate, wouldn't you? Pretty desperate. It wasn't too low for the Lord
to come, and he did. Think about Joseph. in prison,
falsely accused. Potiphar's wife, what chance
did he have of ever getting out? None, if it were left up to him. He tried. He talked to the Pharaoh's
butler and asked him, please remember me. Talk to Pharaoh. Tell him I'm innocent. Bible
says, yet did the butler not remember Joseph, but forgot him. But God never forgot him. He
remembered Joseph in his lowest state. David was in a lowest
state at times, very discouraged and depressed. And the Lord remembered David.
Elijah was in a lower state of depression and said, oh, this
let me die. I don't ever want to see anybody
go anywhere again. Let me die here in this cave.
The Lord came, called him out of there, remembered him in his
lowest state. Jeroboam was in the lowest state
of discouragement. He said, I'll just quit. I'll just not try anymore. But
the Lord remembered him and his low estate came to him. And Jeremiah said, this is like
fire shut up in my bones. The word of God was, I couldn't
quit. I couldn't, I couldn't stop. Job was in a low estate. Oh, Confused at times Discouraged He said I wished
I'd never been born But the Lord remembered Job And I promise
you this morning you are not anywhere You're not going through
anything The Lord is not familiar with You're not anywhere that he can't
remember you and come to you in your lowest state. Somebody
might think, well, I've gone too far. I've, I've messed up
too much. My life is beyond repair. I guess that's what they said
about that Samaritan woman, you know, but the Lord said to his disciples
that morning, This is the day I must need to go through Samaria. Got business there. I guess that's
what they said about the woman in John chapter 8, caught in
the very act. No hope for her, buddy. I guess
that's what they said about the man at the Pool of Bethesda,
been laying there 38 years, never got any help. He's beyond help,
I guess everybody said. No. One day, after 38 years, in God's
time, Jesus passed by. Some people feel like, well,
I messed up so much and for so long. Feel like that little Shulamite
maiden in the Song of Solomon. She said, I am black. Working in the vineyard, the
scorching sun had really worked on her skin and her appearance.
And so many this morning would say, the scorching sun of my
own sin has taken me beyond ever being beautiful again. has taken
me beyond ever being able to lift my head again. I am black. I'm not fit to come
into the presence of the King. Oh, but all that time she didn't
know it, the King's desire, Solomon's desire, was for her. And he won
her heart to him. And at his word, she is cleaned
up, dressed up, and brought into his presence beautiful and without
spot and he told her that in the song of Solomon four seven
he said thou art all fair my love there is no spot in thee
that's what Christ says to his church this morning to the elect
as much of a mess as we are in our flesh he says thou art all
fair my love there is no spot in thee. Wow. Finally, he remembers
us in the lowest state of our day of departure. We're
all going to leave this world one of these days. And a lot
of people say, well, I fear death. You're probably not dying then. Because the Lord has a way of preparing His children. And when the time comes, we're
somehow willing to be ready to leave here. He remembers us. He remembers us. He remembers
His saints. When it's time to leave this
world, when we're no more good for anything or anybody, the
Lord remembers. The Lord remembers. And I think
about this often. I think about the dear saints
I've known. It didn't take no time till the world forgets they
ever existed. Only those who knew the Lord
and loved them and fellowship with them miss them. Remember,
but the Lord remembers in these times. I was thinking this week
about a certain preacher. You know, when a preacher gets
old, most churches just, you know, kick him out. Could care
less what happens to him. They forget he ever existed.
I'm glad the Lord remembers. I was at an old preacher's funeral.
Oh, two or three years ago now. He'd pastored several churches
in this county. And the last one he pastored,
he stayed there about 20 years, really flourished, probably 200
or more people in the congregation. And there might have been a half
a dozen of them at his funeral. Forget. He'd given his life,
and his dear widow had given her life to serve the Lord's people. Put
up with a bunch of complaining, cold-hearted church members who
forget him in the end, but the Lord never forgot him. That's the hope you and I have
this morning. Those people on the job, those neighbors, even
those so-called friends. Well, oh, so-and-so is dead and
gone. Did you hear about it? Yeah, I hated to hear that. I hated
to hear that. Boom. History. Never thinking more
about it. I'm glad the Lord remembers us.
He remembers. He hadn't forgotten. Paul said, In his final chapter, 2 Timothy
4, all through the years, he'd had
one forsake him, then another one forsake him. Then he finally said to Timothy,
all men forsook me, notwithstanding the Lord. He stood with me. He never forsook me. He remembered,
and he will remember. Luke 16. That beggar named Lazarus died.
He'd been laid at the rich man's gate full of sores, desiring
to be fed with the crumbs which fell from a rich man's table.
You think, well, surely the Lord's forgotten him. He's feeding on
crumbs that nothing but the dogs eat. No, the Lord hadn't forgotten. The Lord hadn't forgotten. Probably wasn't just what the
man wanted, but it's just what the man needed. And wherever the Lord has you,
it'll probably be not what you wanted. It'll be what you needed. And the Bible says the beggar
died and the angels were there waiting for the hour commissioned
from heaven. And the Bible says they took
him and bore him. into Abraham's bosom. Not the
bosom of Abraham's flesh, but the bosom of Abraham's faith.
The Lord remembered. The Lord remembered. And then
the classic example we always refer to, which I love, is the
one thief on the cross who was quickened by the grace of God,
made spiritually alive, had his eyes opened, And he had this
request in his dying hour, dying moment, what was it? Lord, remember
me. And the Lord said to him, I will.
Matter of fact, today, shalt thou be with me in paradise. Remembers us in our lowest state
for his mercy endureth. forever. Don't you think God
today, he remembered you? Oh yes. Not remembered what a good person
you were. That wasn't there to remember. Not remembered how you deserve
his blessings. Oh no, you didn't. But he remembered us in our low
estate. as just another sinful, fallen,
worthless child of Adam whom God in His sovereignty and holiness
could have left to ourselves to perish in our sins and be
gone forever. But thank God He remembered us
in our lowest state. I love that. I love that. And
if I hadn't said what I ought to have said about it, you just
turn to the verse and nibble on it all week. Psalm 136.23. The Lord remembered us in our
low estate. Somebody said, well, I never
did feel like I was that bad off. Well, you probably still
are then. Like someone said many years
ago, concerning the John Newton hymn, Amazing Grace, a critic,
and there'll always be some of those around. Newton had wrote
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like
me. And this critic said, well, John
Newton may have been a wretch, but he said, I never was. He
was a wretch right then. and probably was till you dropped
into hell. We're all wretches, all in the
lowest state. But thank God who remembered
us in our lowest state, for His mercy endureth forever. Stand with me.