I told Larry, talking to him
sometime yesterday, I'm anxious to get back to Exodus and Zechariah
and Luke. So tonight I want you to turn
with me one more time to Exodus chapter 2, Exodus the second
chapter. There are times when God, for
various reasons, sometimes because of our sins, sometimes just to
teach us more to trust our Redeemer, sometimes in order to make us
more useful. But there are times when God
wisely and graciously sends leanness to our souls, causes our hearts
to be greatly distressed, either by outward trials and troubles
or by inward conflict and warfare, or more often than not, by both. I have a message for you, my
brothers and sisters, just in such times. Exodus chapter 2,
verse 23. And it came to pass, now you
can mark it down whenever you read those words, It came to
pass. It didn't just accidentally happen.
It came to pass according to the arrangement of God's wise
and sovereign providence. It came to pass in the process
of time that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel
sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried. And their cry
came up unto God by reason of their bondage. The children of
Israel had been brought into Egypt, and now, 400 years later,
after much affliction and difficulty and trouble, they are continually
vexed and oppressed. At last, the king of Egypt that
had risen after Joseph died and they must have thought to themselves
things are surely going to get better. But their misery only
increased. Pharaoh who followed one after
the other just followed with more oppression and they experienced
more misery and more darkness. No doubt they had often cried
in those 400 years. They had often groaned, they
had often sighed by reason of their trouble. But nowhere before
do we read or hear that they had cried unto God. You see,
there are many who, because of trouble, cry and sigh and groan. Many who, because they fear judgment,
because they fear hell, sigh and cry and groan. But such sighs
are not sighs of repentance. Their sighs are described by
Job this way. Job says, By reason of the multitude
of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry. They cry out
by reason of the arm of the mighty. But none saith, Where is God,
my Maker, who giveth songs in the night? They cry, but not
to God, and not for God. They cry, but not to Christ,
and for Christ. There's no crying to God. No
crying because of our need of mercy until there is crying unto
God by reason of our sin. We do not cry to God in repentance
just to be crying, but we cry to Him because we need His mercy. There is a repentance to be repented
of, and that repentance which is simply a repentance because
of misery is not repentance. That repentance which is the
gift of God, to which we are led by the goodness of God is
a repentance having to do with our sin, and it is a repentance
having to do with our revelation, the revelation God gives us of
Christ and His accomplished redemption. Here the children of Israel cry
unto the Lord God. Now look at verse 24. And God
heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with
Abraham. with Isaac and with Jacob. Now
before I go any further, lest I forget to state it, let me
state emphatically. When you read of God's covenant
with Abraham, this is the first time the covenant is set forth
as fully as it is here. But it is the same covenant that
God made with Adam the same covenant that God made with Noah, the
same covenant that God made with David. It is revealed in various
stages and it is the same covenant that is spoken of in the New
Testament as the New Testament or the New Covenant. And it's
talking about the everlasting covenant of God's free grace
in Jesus Christ our Redeemer made with Christ made for us
and made with us in our substitute before the world began. The Lord
God heard their groaning and God remembered His covenant with
Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the
children of Israel and God had respect unto them. He had respect unto them. I read this in Hawker several
weeks ago, and I thought this was just an outstanding observation.
He said, here we see the order by which grace comes into our
souls. First, God's covenant is the
source and cause of all mercy and grace. And then God remembers
His covenant. And then Hawker said God hears
the cries of His chosen, and God looks upon His own. And because God made this covenant,
because God remembers this covenant, because of that He hears our
cries, causing us to cry to Him, and looks upon His own in mercy
and in grace, and God has respect unto His elect, because He has
respect to His covenant. The Lord was gracious unto them.
and had compassion on them and had respect unto them because
of his covenant. That's the language of 2 Kings
13. Now this is what I want you to see. I want you to see it,
see it clearly, and rejoice in it. God remembers his covenant. God remembers his covenant. Now I'm going to show you that
by three statements in just a little bit. These three statements are
what's clearly set before us in our text. First, there is
a covenant. And second, God remembers his
covenant. Actually, the second point is,
we forget it. The third is, God remembers it. Now, the Lord does chasten us. Yes, he does. He chastens every
son whom he loves. But he always remembers his covenant.
He often hides his face and causes us to walk in darkness, but he
always remembers his covenant. He sometimes appears to forget
us and even to forsake us. He appears to forget us and he
appears to forsake us. It is true, Psalm 22, our Lord
Jesus is the one of whom the prophet presently speaks. My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? But it was the cry of David's
heart as well. In his soul he felt utterly forsaken
of God. We don't use such language because
we're fearful of being honest. But how often have you cried
in your soul, groaned with groans that you couldn't put into words,
my God, my God, Why have you forsaken me? Why have you cast
me off? Why have you forgotten to be
gracious? It often appears that that's
the case. But blessed be His name, it never
is. God always remembers His covenant. Oh may He teach us never to judge
Him by His providence, but rather to judge His providence by Him. Let us never judge our God and
His grace by that which appears to be, but rather by that which
He declares is so. Turn, if you will, to Isaiah
54. Let me show you a few things before we get back to this text.
Isaiah 54. The Lord God speaks to his people,
and he says, Fear not, verse 4, for thou shalt not be ashamed,
confused, neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to
shame, or put to confusion, for thou shalt forget the shame of
thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood
any more, verse 5. For thy maker is thine husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One
of Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall he be called. For
the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken, and grieved
in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith
thy God. Now look at verse 7. For a small
moment have I forsaken thee. but with great mercies will I
gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face
from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have
compassion upon thee, saith the Lord. Now watch what he says.
For this is as the waters of Noah unto me, for as I have sworn
that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, So
have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke
thee. The mountains shall depart, the
hills be moved, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither
shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that
hath mercy on thee." Now turn to Psalm 89. Again, remember
that the psalmist speaks from his own experience and testifies
that which the Spirit of God had taught him. But he is writing
to us concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and God's grace and mercy
to us in Christ. In Psalm 89, verse 19, we read,
Thou hast laid help upon one that is mighty. Thou hast exalted
one chosen out of the people, speaking of our Savior. Now look
at verse 28. Psalm 89, verse 28. My mercy
will I keep, what's this? for he, for David, that is, for
Christ, forevermore. And my covenant shall stand fast
with him. His seed also will I make to
endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven, if his
children forsake my law and walk not in my judgments, if they
break my statutes and keep not my commandments. Now you can
write the if just as small as you want to, but it's written
in big letters. Now the matter of, will this
happen? It's as good as though he said,
when his children forsake my law, when his children walk not
in my judgments, when they break my statutes, when they keep not
my commandments, then will I visit their transgression with the
rod. and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my lovingkindness
will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness
to fail. You see, for God to take his
lovingkindness from you, his children, would be for him to
take his lovingkindness from his darling son. For God to take
His faithfulness from you, his children, and let his faithfulness
fail you, would be for God to take his faithfulness from our
blessed surety, his own son, and his faithfulness fail him.
But that shall not happen. Verse 34. My covenant will I
not break, nor alter the thing that is grown out of my lips.
Yes, we often forsake him. God forgive me. He won't forsake
us. We often forget him. He will
never forget us. It is written, though we believe
not, yet he abideth faithful. What a word. He cannot deny himself. Though we believe not, yet he
abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. Now I want you to see
and see clearly and see for yourself that what I have said in this
regard is not in any way a stretch to the meaning of our words in
Exodus chapter 2 verses 24 and 25. It is not in any way a stretch
of the promises implied in the text we have this evening. But
rather, it is the intent of God the Holy Spirit that we understand
Exodus 2, 24 and 25 in just this light. Now I want you to see
that clearly because that's how God the Holy Spirit explains
it to us in the 106th Psalm. Turn there if you will. Psalm
106. Now in this 106th Psalm, David
is writing about the experiences of God's people all through the
history of the nation of Israel, right up to the time that he
sat upon the throne in Israel. He's talking about their experiences
in Egypt, coming out of Egypt, their experiences in the 40 years
wandering in the wilderness, and their experiences in the
land of Canaan when the Lord God brought the men and gave
them possession of that land. And all through the psalm, he
is calling for us to give praise to God because of His goodness
and His grace in the experience of grace, rediction, and salvation
in Jesus Christ our Lord, which all those things that Israel
experienced were but types of. In verses 1 and 2, he calls for
us to praise our God and give thanks to Him. Praise ye the
Lord, O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good. For His
mercy endureth forever. Actually, the word endureth simply
makes the psalm read a little more smoothly. David says, Praise
the Lord, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good. For His
mercy forever. That's His mercy forever. No beginning, no end, no change,
no variation. His mercy forever. Who can utter
the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can show forth all his praise? And then he asks God, in the
light of these things, to remember him, and teaches us to ask the
same. Verse 4, Remember me, O Lord,
with the favor that Thou bearest unto Thy people. He's about to
show us this favor. Oh, 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 in thine inheritance." This is just in the essence of
what Brother Bob prayed for back in the office just a little while
ago, and what Brother Larry prayed for right here just a few minutes
ago. Lord, visit us now in your favor. your favor that
you bear all the time to your people. Visit us with your salvation
that we may see the good of your chosen and rejoice in the gladness
of your nation and glory with your inheritance. And then David
begins to confess the sins of Israel. all the while celebrating
God's faithfulness, His goodness, and His mercy to such a sinful,
undeserving people. Remember now, he's talking about
our experience of grace. Look in verse 6. We have sinned
with our fathers. We've committed iniquity. We
have done wickedly. Our fathers understood not thy
wonders in Egypt. They remembered not the multitude
of thy mercies, but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red
Sea. Verse 13. They soon forgot his
works. They waited not for his counsel,
but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted God in
the desert. And he gave them their request,
but sent leanness into their soul. Verse 19. They made a calf
at Horeb. and worship the molten image,
thus they changed their glory, changed God, into the similitude
of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God their Savior,
which had done great things in Egypt." Sometimes people make statements that are so contrary
to Scripture, me included, and I just don't see how a believer
could do that. Aaron, Moses' mouthpiece, God's
high priest, is the one who made that golden calf. If God leads you to yourself,
leads me to myself, at any time, there's nothing you won't do
and nothing I won't do. Nothing. Let us cease from all
arrogance with regard to ourselves. They forgot what you did in Egypt. They forgot the wondrous works
in the land of Ham and the terrible things by the Red Sea. Therefore
he said, God said that he would destroy them. Now watch this. Had not Moses his chosen, had
not his own law stood before him in the breach to turn away
his wrath, lest he should destroy them. Now will you hear me? Because Christ has fulfilled
the law in all its demands, in perfect righteousness and in
complete satisfaction, God's own law demands the salvation
of all His own. Read on. Verse 24. Yea, they despised the pleasant
land, the land of Canaan, the land of grace and bounty and
goodness, the land of God's promise, the land of God's covenant. They
believed not His word. but murmured in their tents,
and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord. Verse 28, They joined
themselves also unto Belpheor, and ate the sacrifices of the
dead. Now don't forget what he's talking
about here, and don't imagine it's any less than what he's
talking about. Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions,
and the plague broke in upon them. Verse 36, and they served
their idols, which were a snare unto them. Yea, they sacrificed
their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent
blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters,
whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan, and the land
was polluted with blood. That's the sacrifices they ate. Thus were they defiled with their
religion, with their own works, and went a-whoring with their
own inventions. Verse 43. Many times did He deliver
them, but they provoked Him with their counsel, and were brought
low for their iniquity. Now watch this. Look at verse
8. David tells us, why God is faithfully
gracious to us. Nevertheless, He saved them for
His namesake. God's reason for grace is all
together in Himself. It is never in you or me. He saved them for His namesakes
that he might make his mighty power to be known. And then in
verse 44, David refers back to what we read in Exodus chapter
2. Nevertheless, he regarded their affliction when he heard
their cry, and he remembered for them his covenant, and repented,
repented of judgment. turned away his hand of chastening,
turned away his afflicting providence, turned away his darkness, the
darkness of their day, and turned away their sorrows, repented
him according to the multitude of his mercies. And there's something powerful,
indescribably powerful, about the cry of a child to its mother
or its father. And there is something infinitely
more powerful about the cry of God's children, His covenant
people, to the infinite God who is our Father. The hymn writer
put it this way, Such pity as a father hath and shows his children
dear, like pity shows the Lord to such as worship him in fear."
Now I've said all that to say this, kiss the hand that wounds
you and that hand will bind you up. Rather than murmur and rebel
and complain, cry out to God for mercy and your Father will
turn to you in loving kindness because he remembers his covenant. Look at our text again, Exodus
chapter 2, verse 24. God heard their groaning. Why? Why did he hear their cries? Why did he have respect unto
his people in their trouble? Because God remembered his covenant
with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. He looked to the
covenant that he had made with Abraham. Do you remember what
he said? He said to Abraham, Surely blessing
I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And because
of that promise that had gone out of his mouth, he would not
withdraw his word, and he hears now his people in their cries. Our God remembers his covenant, always. And that ought to be our peace,
our confidence, and our hope. Our text does not say God remembered
their covenant. You read through the Old Testament,
Every time they made a covenant, you remember when Moses came
down with the law and said, this is what God requires of you?
They said, we'll do it, buddy. You tell us what God requires.
We'll do that. And they broke his covenant just
as soon as they spoke their word. And every covenant they ever
made, they broke. Just exactly like you and me. Just exactly like that. Thank
God he doesn't say, He remembers our covenant. God remembered
His covenant. God said to Abraham, I will establish
my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their
generations for an everlasting covenant to be of God unto thee
and to thy seed after thee. And that same covenant is the
covenant He made with Moses, and the covenant He made with
David, and the covenant that was explained more and more as
God made a continually progressing revelation of Himself through
the prophets and the apostles. And finally, at last, it was
made clear by His own dear Son coming, not only to fulfill the
covenant and to declare it to us, but showing Himself to be
the covenant in all its fullness. He said, I have made a covenant
with my chosen whom I have sworn unto David my servant. Thy seed
will I establish forever and build up thy throne to all generations. And when the psalmist wrote that,
he wrote that blessed punctuation mark, seal. Now you, every time
you read that, stop and meditate on this. God made a covenant. A covenant of blessing with Christ
for Him and for His seed forever and He will never turn from it.
Since then, the Lord has shown us much concerning this covenant. Now let me first show you plainly
some things about this covenant. The fact that there is a covenant.
Blessed be His name. He has made with us an everlasting
covenant. And he declares, My covenant
will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my
lips. Now, what can and should be said
about this covenant? Well, I'll tell you what can
and should be said. Exactly what this book says about this covenant. I know there are folks who object
to this kind of language, and they say, well, God doesn't do
things like that. and make a covenant and do this
and then this and then this. No, he doesn't. No, he doesn't.
But he stoops down to our level and speaks to us in this language
so we can get the handle on it. Now, let me give you a handle.
First, this is a covenant that is everlasting. Everlasting. You don't need to turn there.
You remember when David was on his deathbed? He said, although
my house be not so with God, Just like you and I might look
at our houses, family and friends, and say things aren't like I
hoped they'd be. We might look at God's house,
which was David's house, and say, it looks to me like things
are in a mess, best I can say. Yet he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, For this is all my
salvation and all my desire. This covenant that God made for
us from eternity is a covenant of pure, free grace. Let's read the language of the
covenant, Jeremiah 31. Turn there if you will. Jeremiah
31. Now we don't have to guess whether
this is talking about God's covenant of grace made with Christ on
our behalf. We don't have to guess whether
this is talking about the same covenant that's described as the New Testament
in my blood by our Redeemer. Because the Holy Spirit tells
us in Hebrews chapter 8 and again in Hebrews chapter 12 that this
is the covenant Jeremiah is talking about. Beginning in verse 3,
Jeremiah 31. The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, because of my everlasting
love for you, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
And then he tells his prophet about his covenant. Verse 31.
Jeremiah 31, 31. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah, just as he made his covenant
with Abraham. Now the covenant was made from eternity. But it
is revealed in time, and the revelation of it in time is what
is speaking up here. Not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by
the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant
they break, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. I
made a covenant of law with them, and in that covenant of law,
God gave promises of temporal blessedness to obedience and
temporal curses for disobedience, and they broke the covenant and
inherited the curse. He said this covenants not at
all like that verse 33 But this shall be the covenant that I
will make with the house of Israel that is with my elect After those
days saith the Lord. I will put my law in their inward
parts and write it on their hearts Ezekiel describes it like this.
I'll take away their stony heart give them a heart of flesh I'll
put my spirit in them. The word is I will cause them
to live They shall be born again. Read on. And when that happens,
I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they
shall teach no more, every man his neighbor, and every man his
brother, saying, Know the Lord. For they shall all know me from
the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. Those
who are taught of God, our Savior said, come to me. For I will
forgive their iniquity. and will remember their sin no
more. Look at chapter 32. He's still talking about the
same covenant. Verse 37. Behold, I will gather them out
of all countries whither I have driven them in mine anger, and
in my fury, and in great wrath. And I will bring them again unto
this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. And they
shall be my people, and I will be their God. And I will give
them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever for
the good of them and of their children after them. And I will
make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn
away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their
hearts that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice
over them to do them good and I will plant them in this land
assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. God says
I am for you in the totality of my being all the time. What a word. Now, let me tell
you something else about this covenant. Turn to Isaiah 48. When God made His covenant with
us, He didn't make His covenant in
reaction to anything, but rather He made His covenant in anticipation
of our need for His mercy. When God chose Abraham to be
His friend, He knew what failures there would be in His friend
and in His seed. And he made his choice deliberately,
knowing the end from the beginning, knowing all the provocations
that he would endure with Israel for 40 years in the wilderness.
He knew how they would provoke him to anger again and again
after he had settled them in the land of Canaan. And yet,
God's choice of his redeemed was made long before ever those
things took place, deliberately. And His promises were given long
before ever those promises of grace and mercy were needed.
And so it is with the covenant He made for us and with us in
Christ, His darling Son. It was not made. God's work of
grace is never a reactionary work, but rather His work of
grace is that which He did in eternity before the world was
in Christ, our covenant surety, in anticipation of our need.
Sometimes we talk about God reacting, and He appears to react, but
that's never the case. His grace is that which He has
performed for us from eternity in anticipation of our need.
Look at Isaiah 48 verse 3. I have declared the former things
from the beginning, and they went forth out of my mouth, and
I showed them. I did them suddenly, and they
came to pass. Because I knew that thou art
obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass,
I have even from the beginning declared it to thee. Before it
came to pass, I showed it to thee, lest thou shouldst say
mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten
image hath commanded them." Look at verse 8, "...Yea, thou heardest
not. Yea, Thou knewest not, yea, from
that time that thine ear was not opened, for I knew that thou
wouldst deal very treacherously, and was called a transgressor
from the womb. He saw us ruined by the fall,
yet loved us notwithstanding all. The covenant is not according
to what we deserve, but according to the greatness of His grace
and the immutability of His promise. And this covenant was sealed
and ratified, made sure and certain, before the world began, by Christ
our Charioteer, whom he trusted, the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, before the world began, so much so that the Lord
God declares from eternity that we are accepted in the beloved,
blessed of him with all spiritual blessings in heaven and places,
before the world began. justified, sanctified, and glorified
in Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
And the Lord our God will never turn His back upon that covenant
ratified from eternity with the blood of the everlasting covenant. Can God deny His word to His
bleeding Son? No, sir. The thought is blasphemous. So too is the thought that he
can deny his word of grace to any sinner who trusts his son. His covenant is sure and immutable. This everlasting covenant of
grace will and must stand forever because the very glory of God
stands or falls with his covenant. Read the first chapter of Ephesians
again. In the first twelve verses, the Lord tells us three times
that everything he did in that covenant and everything that
flows to us from that covenant is for the praise of his glory. Everything. He says, this people
have I formed for myself. They shall show forth my praise. I've got this from Mr. Spurgeon,
and I fully agree with what he wrote. Listen carefully. God
is more glorified in the covenant of grace than in creation or
in providence. In fact, creation and providence
are but the temporary scaffold of the great house which God
is building, even the God who inhabits the praises of Israel. The Lord cannot break His word,
nor forego His designs, nor forget His promises. Do not even think
it. The crown jewels of God are staked
and palmed upon the carrying out of the covenant of grace. Blessed be His name. It is not
possible for God to break His covenant. It is not possible
for God to fail to perform His covenant. There is a covenant, but oh,
how we forget. How we forget. It appeared that the children
of Israel had long since forgotten God's covenant made with Abraham
and with Isaac. Joseph was dead, and Jacob was
dead, and Isaac was dead, and Abraham was dead, and they had
forgotten them, and they had forgotten God and His Word to
them. And so it is with us. When we
are laid low, when He sends leanness to our souls, when we find ourselves
in times of trouble and sorrow, and we begin to murmur and whine, We are saying, the Lord has forsaken
me. My God has forgotten me. And to that lamentation of our
unbelieving hearts, this is what God says. Can a woman forget
her sucking child? That she should not have compassion
on the child of her womb? Yea, they may forget. Yet will
I not forget thee. He declares, I will betroth thee
unto me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee unto
me in righteousness and in judgment, in lovingkindnesses and in mercies. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 16. Just a couple of weeks ago I
referred to Ezekiel 16 in a message out in California and a friend
came up to me He won't mind me telling you this. I told him
that. He tends to see the gloomy side of everything. He can spot
one teaspoon-sized cloud in a sunshiny sky. And he said, how come folks
never say anything about the last part of Ezekiel 16? Well,
let's say something about the last part of Ezekiel 16. In the
first part, the Lord tells us about how he has made us beautiful
through his comeliness which he's put upon us when he spread
over us his skirt of righteousness. And then he goes through the
whole chapter describing our sins and his visitation of us
in his providence. And then in verse 60, look what
he says. Nevertheless, I love that word,
don't you? When God mentions me and he says,
nevertheless, I have hope. When God mentions what I am,
what I do, and he says, nevertheless, I have reason to be confident.
Nevertheless, I will remember my covenant with thee in the
days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting
covenant. Then shalt thou remember thy
ways, and be ashamed when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine
elder and thy younger, and I will give them unto thee for daughters,
but not by thy covenant. And I will establish my covenant
with thee, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Bless His name forever. God will never forget His covenant. Therefore He hears our cries.
our groans, and He has respect unto us, knows us, loves us,
owns us, delights in us, and accepts us, because God remembers
His covenant. Amen. Our Father, our God, how
we thank You for Your free covenant law. How we bless You for remembering
your covenant. We have sinned and we constantly
sin against you. God forgive our sin. And we thank
you for the blessed promise that you continually blot out our
transgressions. as a thick cloud. You bid us put you in remembrance
and plead with you, your covenant, that we might be justified. And
so we come before you and put you in remembrance of that which
you've done for us from eternity in your darling Son. And trust
in Him. We stand before our God justified. for your continued mercies upon
this assembly, upon these, your people. And wherever men and
women worship our God and seek to serve you, Lord God, grant
your blessings upon them for Christ's sake, according to your
covenant. Amen. All right, Lindsey. Let's have a hymn. We'll be closed
with that. Songs of Grace book number 133. 133.