turn quickly there with me. This is 72 verses of megatext. It's a glorious, glorious psalm. The idea is the importance of remembering God. We looked at verse 1-8 last week and we were talking about the importance of passing truth on to our children. And the importance of teaching and training children in the home. But today we want to look at verse 9 through verse 72. I know that you don't think that it's humanly possible for me to preach through them. I'm going to give it a shot. And because of the brevity of time that we do have on a midweek service, I'm not going to read all those verses, but I will be reading them along in my exposition. So let me just start off with my introduction, and then we'll go into the points. I have eight points to deduce from these verses tonight. But the idea here is the importance of remembering God. That's probably on the screen behind me, although I don't have eyes in the back of my head. I used to when the kids were at home. But when you don't use those eyes in the back of your head, they go out on you. And so I can't see it. So God's people oftentimes do have memory problems, don't we? And I'm not talking about the memory lapse that comes from growing older, but the forgetfulness that arises in each one of us because of sin. Now, we're quick to forget the God that loves us, the Lord that has given His Son up for us. We're quick to forget the cross, the gospel. And the forgetfulness I'm talking about tonight, which we'll be addressing in the text, is not the absence of knowledge. But it's a sort of an amnesia that affects memory in our present trust, memory in our present obedience, and our memory of God in the present awe of Him. That we become quick to doubt God, quick to be in fear because our memory of the greatness of God has in some way lapsed. We become quick to fall into temptation because our memory of God's glory has, in some measure, become forgotten. We're quick to sin because our memory of the holiness of God and the blazing holiness of God has been dimmed in some way. So it's an amnesia that affects the memory of our present trust in God, that we're not remembering God the way that we ought to. The history of Israel, God's elect nation, has been a faultless continuum of the power of God, deliverance of God, and the provision of the Lord for His covenant people, that God has been faithful to them, the promises of God to Israel have been unbroken, the power of God has been towards them unlimited and demonstrated, the provision of God towards Israel has been copious and continuous, and that His care of His particular people has been tender and true. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 37, 25, I was young and now I'm old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread. What is that saying other than the Lord is faithful in His care for His people, but we forget. We have lapses of memory. Not that we don't know this, but we don't know this the way that we ought. We have other things that occupy our minds. Psalm 78, excuse me, is a record of the faithfulness of the Lord, but also the foolishness and folly of Israel. That God here shows His power to help His people, but all too soon He's quickly forgotten. The thesis of verse 1 through 8 is for the coming generation for us to recount the strength of God, the deeds of God, and the praises of God to our children. That's the theme. It's a call for Israel to remember God. In fact, verse 7 says that they should set their confidence in God and not forget the deeds of God but observe His commandments. Mind you, the sin of ancient Israel in her forgetting of the Lord is not restricted solely to ancient Israel. It's a subtle sin that dwells and lingers on the inside of all of us, and it's a sin that God detests. The Bible again and again reminds us for our minds to be filled or to bring about continuous thoughts of God. We see that in Colossians 3, verse 2, that we're to think on these things, that we're to have the mind of Christ, that we're to set our mind on things that are above, that we are to recall the great exploits of God and meditate upon them. We see that in Psalm 77, 12. But as the hymnist wrote, Lord, I'm prone to wander. Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love." That's that glorious hymn that I love to sing, Come Thou Fount, written by Robert Robinson. The word remember is a word that is used repetitiously in both the Old and the New Testament. In fact, if you count the variance of that term, it's used over 550 times in the Scriptures, to remember, to remember. calling the Lord to mind, meditating upon the greatness of God. This is a very long psalm, it's 72 verses, but it gives to us from this overarching view two powerful truths. Number one is that God is faithful, and secondly, God's people are pitiful. Israel's history is one of ongoing epic failure. And this psalm is written by the way that we might break from that pattern. Paul would write to Corinth in 1 Corinthians 10-11. It's a very familiar passage to you. Now, these things happened to them. It's talking about the exploits of God and the frailty of Israel in the wilderness and in the wanderings and the great workings of God. These things that happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have arrived. So let me just dig into this. Starting in verse 10, we see that Israel forgot His covenant. Look at verse 10 with me in your copy of God's Word. They did not keep the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law. They refused to walk in His law. They did not keep the covenant of God. Now, this is referencing, if you look at verse 9, it talks about the sons of Ephraim. They were archers equipped with bows, yet they turned back in the day of battle. They did not keep the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law. So we see here, this is making a reference to when the kingdom split to the northern and southern kingdoms, and that the northern kingdom was noted by the mention of the name Ephraim. And in this text, it is a symbol of backsliding and apostasy. They forgot the covenant of God. They willfully forgot. This is not that they didn't have the knowledge of God or the knowledge of the covenant, but they did not have it central to their minds. It was not in their hearts. The covenant of the Lord, in other words, was not governing their affections. Look at verse 10. They did not keep the covenant of God and they refused to walk in His law. So it was a refusal of what they knew to be that was right. This is a forgetfulness that Israel was portraying here that's kind of like your kids that forget to do their chores when you tell them. And by the way, they have not forgot to do the chores, they didn't prioritize the chores. Parents? None of you parents were guilty of that when you were 14. It's only your kids, right? And so they were, the kids prioritized other things. I know when I was a boy, I would prioritize, and my mom and dad would lay men this, going fishing over at Norman's Pond, or riding my bicycle, or playing cops and robbers, or cowboys and Indians. But here, the covenant of the Lord was to be on the hearts of God's people foremost, that the terms of the covenant were expected to be followed and to be loved. He was their covenant head. that He gave expectations in the covenant that were the privileged people of God, the prized possession. They were set apart and unique to the purposes and plans of God, but they forgot the covenant. That forgetfulness was proven by the way they disobeyed God. They set aside what God had commanded. They pursued things that God had forbidden. And by the way, beloved, we are not exempted from this. Paul would charge young Timothy, who was a fear-prone young preacher, and he said, remember Jesus Christ. In 2 Timothy 2.8, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, who is the seed of David. And here we have a New Testament charge that you and I, as God's people, are to remember our covenant head, that we are to keep the truth of God before us, that we're to call the truth of God to mind and to keep it before us so that we will not, as Ephraim did, turn back in the day of battle. The psalmist wrote in the 1st Psalm and the 2nd verse right out of the gate, how blessed is the man that delights in the law of Yahweh, who meditates in His law day and night, that he keeps the terms of the covenant foremost in his mind. Day and night he's meditating upon the law of the Lord. Gracelove, I need not tell you this, but I will anyway, that sin in the life of a Christian is the result of negligence. It's the fruit of failure to remember the Lord. It's failing, like a child failing to remember his chores. Other things creep into our lives, other things win our affections, other things that have been vying for our affections, and then temptations allure us away from our covenant head, who is Jesus Christ. Paul wrote to Timothy and said, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the seed of David. keep him central, think on these things," Paul would write to Philippi. Jesus warned in Mark 19, I think this is in all the synoptics, that the worries of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for anything else enter in and they choke the Word and it becomes unfruitful. So here we see that Israel did not remember his covenant. They forgot the covenant. Secondly, they forgot his miracles. Look at verse 11. We'll read to verse 20. So they forgot his acts and his wondrous deeds that he had shown them. He did wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. He split the sea and caused them to pass through. He made the water stand up like a heap. He led them with the cloud by day, and all the night was a light of fire. He was splitting the rocks in the wilderness and so gave them abundant drink like the ocean's depths. He brought forth streams also from the cliff face and caused waters to run down like rivers. Yet they continued to sin against Him, to rebel against the Most High in the desert. And in their heart, they put God to the test by asking for food according to the desires and they spoke against God. They said, can God prepare a table in the wilderness? Behold, he struck the rock so that waters gushed out and streams were overflowing. Can he give bread also? Will he prepare meat for his people? Verse 11 is clear here that they forgot the miraculous work of God. This is a pericope or a section that delineates or unpacks the miraculous power of God that was set on display in front of the people of God, the nation Israel. Asaph, who is the author of Psalm 78, recounts here didactically the wondrous deeds of God. He goes back to the Exodus. He reminds us that God has always been faithful, that God has provided copious proof of His love, copious proof of His care for His people, abundant proof, line upon line, we read of the great exploits of God. There they were, 400 years under the tyranny of Pharaoh. this lengthy burdensome. He heard the cries, the moans of their burdens as they were praying and crying out to God that generations were born as slaves and then they died as slaves. But here in the right time, God broke in. He raised up and He sent a deliverer and that God liberated His people from the ruthlessness of being slaves of Pharaoh and He broke the power that held them in bondage. And He He narrates these great miracles that happened in their presence. He split the sea. Verse 13, He caused them to pass through on dry ground. Verse 14, He led them in a cloud by day and a fire by night, the leading of the Spirit of the Lord. Verse 15, God split open rocks and provided drink in the wilderness In the wilderness area, verse 25 is spread on down, that God provided for them the bread of angels. We know that to be manna. And then in verse 27, He provided wheat or meat for them, which would have been quail. And then look at verse 17, but yet they still continued to rebel against Him, to continue to sin against Him, to rebel against the Most High in the desert. They forgot. They forgot the miracles of God. Sin is in gratitude stretched to infinitude. Sin is in gratitude cast into infinitude. God's people were never satisfied. God provided for their needs, but then they always wanted something better. They wanted food according to the psalmist, according to their own desires, and what is that other than rebellion? Here the psalm exposes the reality of Jeremiah 179 that the human heart is wicked above all else, is desperately sick, and who can know it? That's my heart and that's your heart. If anyone tells you that you have a good heart, the Bible disagrees. It would be wrong to think that the human condition has improved over the millennia. It would be wrong in an equal way to think that our hearts have somehow or another matured beyond this kind of blatant ingratitude. But think in terms of what God's done for us as Christians, that the miracle of regeneration is a miracle eternally transcendent to that of the exodus coming out of Egypt. No one in the exodus was granted eternal life simply because they passed through the Red Sea, but you and I have tasted the power of God. You and I have been born again, that we have been dead in our sin and we've been alive in Christ. But listen, like Israel, we continue to grumble. We've come out of the grave that once upon a time entombed us, but yet Jesus called us out by name, John chapter 10 tells us. We've passed from death to life. We've tasted the goodness of the Lord in the new birth. But listen, how often do we murmur whenever life becomes uncomfortable, whenever life is not as luxurious as we had expected it to be? How often do we pout whenever we're passed over and didn't get a promotion? How often do we complain whenever fuel prices climb? How often do we murmur whenever our candidate's not elected into office? And we have to ask ourselves the question, when we murmur against the Lord, is it because that we have forgotten that we have experienced the greatest miracle that's ever been given? That we've been raised up to new life in Jesus Christ? You don't remember a time when Jesus was with His disciples and Jesus gave them authority over serpents and scorpions. Jesus gave the disciples power over the enemy in that nothing would injure them. But here's what he said to them, do not rejoice in this, that spirits are subject to you. Don't rejoice in the power of the miracles you see in the outward sense, but rejoice that your names are written or recorded in heaven. Rejoice that you've been born of God. Rejoice that you have the greatest miracle. The greatest miracle is not casting out demons. The greatest miracle is not that you can shake off a two-stepper snake into a fire and not die. The greatest miracle is that you've been brought out of the tomb of your own destruction and your own sin, and that you've been enlivened by God. But we murmur just like Israel. We complain. Let me ask you, is your life a continuum of just pitiful? You go from one disaster to another and just so you can have one complaint to the next. Are you murmuring about the circumstances in your life? Are you complaining about you feel like you've been dealt a bad hand? You have forgotten the Lord Jesus Christ. You have forgotten that he has raised you from the dead. Listen, and you didn't deserve it, but he did it because he's gracious. He did it because he's loved. And he did it contrary to what you and I deserve. We deserve to be doomed and damned and cut off from the life of God. But he mercifully gave you the greatest gift when he owed you nothing but justice. Remember Jesus Christ. Third note that they forgot is salvation. Verse 21, look at it with me. Therefore, Yahweh heard and was full of wrath, and a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also mounted against Israel. Look at it, it says, because they did not believe in God and did not trust. in His salvation." This is akin to the miracles that they forgot, but here the emphasis is upon salvation. Verse 22 says, they did not believe in God and they did not trust in His salvation. You can see in verse 21 this stirred up the anger of the Lord. The word wrath there in the LSB is literally God's anger. that God's great deliverance had been repeated again and again, that God broke in and let His people go. He broke in and brought miracles, but they refused to trust in Him. They refused to believe in the great salvation of the Lord. God had been faithful in demonstrating His own power. He had given them tastes of the goodness of the Lord, but they gave unbelief in return for the goodness of God. And we have to ask, is that us? I want to pause and ponder here and say, I want you to listen. Are you lost here tonight and do not know the Lord in a saving way? Your life is not committed to Him. You're not living for His glory. You've not believed the gospel of Jesus Christ. You've not committed your way to Him. But yet God's furnished ample proof to you. The scriptures witness the victory and the triumph of God over and again. You've heard so many gospel sermons. You've been given the sweet taste of gospel light, like in Hebrews 6, verse 5, they've tasted of the sweetness of the good things that are to come. But as Joel 3.14 says, you're still in the valley of decision. The Holy Spirit says in Acts 17, 30 and 31, therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now commanding men that everyone everywhere should repent because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he determined having furnished proof to all by raising him from the dead. Spurgeon wrote, it's the master sin, the crying sin, it's in itself evil and the parent of evils, that God is ready to save, but rebellious man will not trust in his Savior. God is furnished proof. Maybe you've been hearing the gospel for years, from a child on, and you're no better than you were before because of unbelief. Maybe your problem is that you love sin. Maybe the problem is that you love darkness, and you prefer darkness over light. You love lies and prefer them to truth, that darkness is preferred to light, and that sin is preferred to righteousness, that hell is preferred to heaven. Jesus warned us about this in John 3, 19, and this is judgment, the judgment that light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil. Maybe that's you. I want you to remember, my friend, delayed repentance is putting God to the test. It's the presumption that God will grant repentance to you on your timetable and on your terms. And it's absolute insanity. It's idiocy gone to seed. It's gambling with your soul. It's gambling with eternity that God's extended salvation to you. The Bible, when it speaks of salvation, it speaks in terms of in this moment. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the moment that you're to put your trust in Jesus Christ. Call upon Him. Call upon Him today. Do not delay. Do not procrastinate. That is Israel. They did not remember His salvation. Call upon Him now. Right there where you are. Maybe you need to kneel right there in your pew and ask God to forgive you and ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Call out upon Him in the day of trouble and He will hear you. He will give the gift of His Son. Fourthly, Israel forgot the goodness of God. Look at verse 23 and we'll read through verse 30. Yet He commanded, and we're looking at the goodness of God that they forgot, He commanded the skies above. They didn't trust His salvation, but He commanded the skies above. He opened the doors of heaven. He rained down manna upon them to eat, gave them grain from heaven. Man ate the bread of angels. He sent them provision to satisfy. He led forth the east wind in heaven, and by His strength He guided the south wind. Then He rained down meat upon them like dust, even winged fowl like the sand of the seas. He caused them to fall in the midst of the camp all around His dwelling." Listen, they didn't even have to go to homeland. They fell right there next to their tent. You didn't even need a 12-gauge. He caused them to fall in the midst of His camp and all around His dwelling places, so they ate and were satisfied. And the desire he brought to them, before they had satisfied their desires and while the food was in their mouths, the anger of the Lord rose against them." But here we see the goodness of God multiplied, multiplied, repeated, the expansive provision of God for His covenant people. There we see at every turn they experienced superlative provision coming from God. Their needs were met by the Lord. And more than that, God did abundantly above anything they could ask or think, as it says in Ephesians 3.20. Isn't this the nature of the Lord? That He is good and He does good, as it says in Psalm 119 verse 68. Just think about this for a moment. There they were in the wilderness of Sinai. T.C., you've been there. There's not much to eat there. I don't know what you ate when you were there on your wilderness journey, but especially for a large number of people like this because there were 600,000 men that left Egypt that were numbered among Israel. It's not counting women, that's not counting widows, that's not counting children. It's speculated by some that there could have been as many as two million people. There are not enough lizards and scorpions in the wilderness of Sinai to feed that size of a group. But God opened up the heavens, didn't he? Verse 25 tells us, look at it, that men ate the bread of angels. They were satisfied. Skip on down to verse 28. He provided winged fowl. I love, I mean, you got quail and mashed potatoes right there. What else does a guy need? He gave them water. Look at verse 29 and 30, it says that they ate and they were satisfied. Literally, it literally means in the original language that they gorged themselves. In fact, if you have an NIV translation tonight, it's translated that way, they gorged themselves. What's the point? God gave them more than what they needed. He gave them a copious blessing, that God met their needs and then some, that miracle after miracle after miracle was performed by the Lord. He reached out, He demonstrated His goodness, He blessed them even though they're thankless people. He gave and He gave and He gave and He gave, and guess what they did? They forgot. They murmured. They were discontent. What do you call a child that's given a whole lot and never says thank you? Starts with a spuh and ends with a oiled. Spoil rotten, right? Listen, God gives good gifts to his children. Israel forgot how good that God was and how bountiful that they had received all these wondrous gifts from the Lord. And guess what they did? They became unthankful. The man here, by the way, is a type of Christ who is the bread of life. that God's given His best, that Jesus is the goodness of God exemplified, the gift that God gave, that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. He is the one that satisfies our hunger and thirst, and He grants us eternal life. But do we forget? As Paul says, remember Jesus Christ. Listen, if we possess Him, we possess everything. Romans 8.32, he who indeed did not spare his own son but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things that God's provision is ample and rich and copious and we are unthankful like ancient Israel so many times. Remember, remember, they didn't. These things are written for an example for you and me. upon this present time, the church age. Fifth, they forgot His wrath, verse 31 to 4. Look at it with me. The anger of God rose against them and He killed some of their status ones and subdued the choice men of Israel. In spite of all this, they still sinned and did not believe in His wondrous deeds. So He brought their days to an end in futility and their years in sudden terror. When He killed them, then they sought Him. And that's a great church growth signet. God will kill you and then maybe you'll seek him. And returned and sought earnestly for God and they remembered that God was their rock and the most high God their redeemer. I want you to note clearly in this that the school of the Lord includes a class upon divine discipline. As the hymn I quoted in the introduction says, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. God knows how to straighten out crooked places in us. He knows how to correct bent hearts. He knows how to redirect affections that have gone awry. He knows how to bring back that rogue sheep, Matthew chapter 18, verse 12 to 14, he goes after the one leaving the 99 and he gets that one sheep back. He knows how. to note that the departure of Israel from God was an entrance into His reform school. And Hebrews 12, 11 tells us that the corrections of Yahweh are painful and that God's not to be trifled with. Look at verse 32, in spite of all this, they still sinned and did not believe His wondrous deeds. Sin is a stubborn adversary. Yours isn't? Mine is. And listen, if God doesn't heal you and I with his kisses, he will wound us with his corrections. The goodness of the Lord leads us to repentance, it says in Romans 2, 4. But if that repentance is not attained, listen, God has not run out of options. Some children learn best in the school of affliction. I was one of those kids. The best tutor for me was not my textbook, it was the principal's paddle. And then when I got home, it was dad's leather strap. That taught me more because that taught my character along with my mind. God's never out of options whenever we fail to repent. Some children learn in discipline. God's providence guided the great fish to swallow Jonah. If you remember the stubborn, obstinate prophet of the Lord and Jonah, the mouth of the providence of God, in other words, is large enough to swallow me and large enough to swallow you whenever we become stubborn and obstinate. They forgot His wrath, we should not. God knows how to deal with dereliction. Even the dereliction of those that are in covenant with him, look at verse 34, when he killed them, then they sought him and returned and sought earnestly for God. The lion and the witch and the wardrobe, it's written of Aslan that he is not safe. Listen, we are instructed emphatically to learn by the examples that are given to us in the Bible, aren't we? And that failing to remember the Lord can be followed by catastrophic consequences. 1 Corinthians 10, once again, it says, listen to this, neither let us put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents. It's that large mouth of providence again. Nor should we grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example. Remember, remember the Lord. The warnings of the Bible are the grace of God extended to you and me. God warns us here so that we would not experience that. And he does this because he's kind, he does this because he's good. But with so many people, like Israel, we learn better in the crucible of pain. But that's not God's will. He wants us to remember Him, remember His ways, remember His covenant, remember His goodness, remember His power. And now we look at, remember, they forgot His mercy. Look at verse 35 to 39, they forgot His mercy. Look at it with me. Thus He remembered, but they were flesh. A wind that goes and does not return. How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness and they grieved Him in the wasteland. They forgot His mercy. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm only 35. I hit that wrong. Span back up. Remember, be patient. I got a sick wife at home that I'm worried about. And they remembered that God was their rock. And the Most High God, the Redeemer. But they deceived Him with their mouth, they lied to Him with their tongue, for their heart was not prepared to remain with Him, nor were they faithful in His covenant, but He being compassionate." Look at this. But He, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them. And He abounded in turning back His anger and did not arouse all His wrath. Thus He remembered that they were but flesh and a wind that goes and does not return." They forgot His mercy. This passage here, starting in verse 35 and going through 9, is a glorious passage. None of us are blind to this. It's very clear in the text that Israel has added sin to their sin. And they're disciplined, by the way. Some of them were hardened because of it. They remembered God only to lie and scheme, and it seems that they were playing mind or head games with God. They wanted the hand of God, but they did not want His heart. They wanted His provision, but they did not want His purposes. It says in verse 36 and 37, they deceived him with their mouth. They lied to him with their tongue. Their hearts were not prepared to remain with him, neither were they faithful to his covenant. Like some in the church, right? That we make commitments to God, but then we soon cancel those commitments by other desires and other pursuits. We commit to the Lord that we'll be faithful in our tithes and in our offerings, but then that new something comes on along that takes our money from us. Promises that we make to God, God, I will never do it again if you don't kill me this time, but then we don't keep them. Some people run to God in the days of trouble, but when the problems begin to subside, they run back to sin. That's the folly of Israel in ancient days, and that's also oftentimes our folly, isn't it? But note the character of the Lord in this. Look at verse 38, this is some of the most glorious words in this whole psalm, that, "'God, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them. He abounded in turning back His anger and did not arouse all His wrath. Thus He remembered that they were beflesh, a wind that goes and does not return.'" Listen, they were, this is a Spurgeon quote, They were forgetful of God, but He was mindful of them. And as they worsened, the mercies of the Lord seemed to be widening. They sinned, and they sinned, and they sinned, and they sinned, and God forgave, and God forgave, and God forgave. And here's the point. The Lord is full of mercy. The Lord is rich in salvation. It hangs in my study, a gift that was given to me, a Richard Sibbes quote that says that there's more mercy in Christ than there is sin in us. Asaph writes, Israel's sin And then he shows God's mercy because he wants us to remember that he doesn't want us to forget these truths. Write them on your hearts. Write them there by meditation. Meditating upon the truth of God day and night. Rehearse these truths in your minds. Teach these truths, verses one through eight, to your children. Listen, that the damned must leap over the mercy of Christ if they're to be damned. That the damned must leap over the mercies of Christ if they're to be damned. The compassions of the Lord, they fail not. The mercies of the Lord are new every morning." Lamentations 22 and 23 of chapter 3. This atoning work is a full pardon that every sin has been covered, every transgression cleansed, every sin atoned by the blood of Jesus washed in the fountain that flows from Emmanuel's veins, that we're made white as snow even though we have been as scarlet. That God considers those that are in Christ, those most vile offenders. Spotless, whenever they come to him, clothe the righteousness of Christ. Even the vile sins that we have been thinking about for the last week, about one of our dear brothers that fell into sin. I read today on social media, I wish I hadn't even looked at it, Tommy told me not to, or Sam. Some pastor said, give me any scripture that says we shouldn't take this guy out in public and flog him. I'm like, dude, you need to quit your church because you don't know the Bible. What about going sin no more? The Lord has mercy on adulterers and adulteresses. Those are not sins outside of the mercy and forgiveness of God. Can he get back into a pulpit? No, he cannot. But it doesn't mean he can't be forgiven. And listen, inherit the same kingdom of heaven that you and I inherit. Seventh, they forgot his power, verse 40 to 64. Wow, this is a lot, isn't it? You had no idea that I could preach this much in one night. How often they rebelled. I want you to note the power. How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness. They grieved Him in the wasteland. Again and again they tested God. They pained the Holy One of Israel. Look at this. They did not remember His power the day when He redeemed us from the adversary, when He performed His signs in Egypt and His miracles on the field of Zoan, and turned the rivers to blood and their streams they could not drink. among them swarms of flies." This is the Exodus, isn't it? "...and frogs, which destroyed them. He also gave their crops to the grasshopper, and the fruit of their labor to the locusts. He killed their vines with hailstones, and their sycamore trees with frost. He gave over their cattle to the hailstones, and the herbs to the bolts of lightning. He sent upon them burning anger, fury, and indignation, and distress, and a band of destroying angels. He leveled a path for his anger, and he did not hold back their soul from death, but gave over the life to the plague. He struck all the firstborn of Egypt, the first of their vigor in the tents of Ham. He led forth his own people like sheep, and he guided them in the wilderness like a flock. He led them safely so that they did not fear, but the sea covered their enemies. I mean, read this. It's remarkable. He brought them to the holy land, to the hill country. This is present-day Israel, which His right hand had acquired. That's His power. He drove out all the nations before them. That's the giants in the land that He appointed to them as an inheritance by measurement. And He made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents. Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God. They did not keep His testimonies, but turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers. They turned aside like a treacherous bow, for they provoked Him in their high places." This is idolatry. They brought in the idolatrous practices of foreigners, and it aroused their jealousy with their graven images. God heard and was filled with wrath. and he greatly rejected Israel so that he abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh, the tent which he caused to dwell among them. He gave up his strength to captivity and his beauty to the hand of the adversary. He also gave over his people to the sword and was filled with the wrath of his inheritance. Fire devoured his choice men and his virgins had no wedding songs. His priests fell by the sword and his widows could not weep." Wow! This is a recounting of how Israel forgot the power of God. Look what they saw. He's going back to the Exodus to make a point, because in the Exodus, God demonstrated His mighty power. He crushed the foes underneath His foot. He, in the eyes of Israel, demonstrated His power firsthand. They were eyewitnesses of the glory of God, the might of God. He delivered them from the most powerful regime, world powers. He sustained them in a land that was impoverished, in the wilderness. He brought them to a promised land. He drove out Then Habitus, look at verse 42, but they did not remember his power the day when he redeemed them from the adversary. All this exposure to the power of God did not develop the fear of the Lord in them. Here Asaph unpacks episode after episode in the history of the nation of Israel where God stepped down and demonstrated the might of his power. This is showstopper power. They saw what others never saw. God crippled Pharaoh and broke his power over them. They were released from bondage by the mighty right hand of God. They saw God split an ocean in half. They walked across on dry ground, the same water that they were brought through safely destroyed the most powerful army in the known world at the time. They saw God's provision in the wilderness. They ate of the bread. They ate of the quail. They drank from the water, which is Christ. The rock is Christ. They had God's provision of the leadership of the Lord with His fire by night and His cloud by day. They inherited the promised land. They saw the giants that occupied that land flee due to the power of God. Look at verse 56, and they tested and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep His testimonies. They turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers. They turned aside like a treacherous bow. They provoked Him in their high places and aroused His jealousy with their graven images. The true God displayed His power right and rubbed it in their face, and then they began to worship false gods. What a thank you that is. This leads me to an important point that I want you to listen to. Miracles cannot change hearts. Outward miracles, physical miracles, miracles, creative miracles set in front of your eye has no power to take your heart of stone out of your flesh. These kinds of outward miracles can dazzle our sense of wonder, they can stir our inward sense of fascination, they can solicit some sense of intrigue in us, but they have no power, miracles have no power to conquer our sinful hearts. We must receive the miracle of God ourself that our stony heart of sin must be turned into flesh by the grace of God if we are to honor God with our lives. A miracle will not change you. The Pharisees saw Lazarus raised from the dead and they wanted to kill Lazarus and Jesus. There's no power in miracles to save. It's amazing that in the charismatic church, that's all they want to see is a miracle. It's like they're gluttons for it. But here we see that Israel continued, even in the face of all these miracles, they continued in unbelief. Outward sight of the miraculous can never lay hold of lasting change in us. Hoping in miracles to conquer our indwelling doubts is a futile thing. Well, if I could just see a miracle, I would believe. No, you would not. Because miracles do not provide grace. Grace comes through Jesus Christ as he's revealed in the gospel of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of the Lord. It's a gift that comes from God. It's a miracle of God that we will believe. It's a miracle when he takes our heart of stone out and gives us a heart of flesh. It's a miracle when we hear the gospel and we become convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit, like so many of you, and you cry it up on Christ. The greatest miracle is Jesus Christ risen from the dead. That's the miracle that you need to focus upon if you're to believe. What God has done in His Son. Think upon Christ. Fill your minds with this truth. Let your minds be renewed. Romans 12, 2. Colossians 3, 2. Set your minds on things that are above. It solicits faith. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the words of Christ. God raised His Son from the dead, furnishing proof to all men. The grave's empty. He's been ascended. He's seated in all power. With all the majesty that's been conferred upon him by the Father, he's seated at the right hand of God. Lastly, they forgot his grace, verse 65 to 72. The Lord awoke as from sleep, as if he were a warrior overcome by wine. He struck his adversaries backward. He put them on an everlasting reproach. He also rejected the tent of Joseph. He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved. And he built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth, which he has founded forever. He also chose David, his servant. He took him from the sheepfolds, from following nursing The final stanza here, verse 65 to 72, we see that the Lord arouses Himself for battle. that the sovereign of the universe steps down, that he steps in, that he overcomes adversaries. He rejects, notice the language, he rejects Ephraim. He chooses Judah. He chooses David. And we cannot afford to overlook that word choose. that God was gracious, none deserved it, that God graciously and gloriously steps in, He sets things right. The end of the story is not dark, it is gloriously illuminated with divine light that God sovereignly steps down and gives a people an inheritance by His own sovereign grace that He has chosen and He sets His affection upon them and then He shepherds them according to the integrity of His heart. This is great. That Israel's best days are in front of them. Post-Tenebrous Lux, out of darkness, light. The darkness gives way to the light, that there's a new day dawning, there's a new tomorrow, but it's not through Joseph, it's through David, and that the sovereign purpose of God wins the day. Derek Kidner, in his helpful commentary, writes, the emphasis is not on man's deserves or what man deserves, but on God's own purpose and grace. That in this section, verse 65 to 72, the emphasis is not upon man and his failings and what he deserves in wrath, but the focus is upon God's own purpose and grace. What an epic conclusion to a very dark and dreary psalm that God steps down in sovereign power and works all things after the counsel of His own will. The purpose of God will not be thwarted, that God, as it says in Psalm 2 6, He has installed His King upon His throne. And here we see the shepherding Messiah nursing the little lambs that have been given to Him to reign and rule over in His sovereign majesty. He shepherds His choice people. He does this by His own glorious power and might. We see that in the last verse, according to the integrity of His heart and the skill of His own hands. He does this by His own glorious character. This is done by His mighty power. He steps down in grace. And listen, He sent His Son, Jesus, the Son of David, the true and better David. the good shepherd that lays down his life for his sheep in John 10-11. And in this final stanza, we see grace upon grace and the face of Jesus Christ. This is prophetic. It's a call for us to remember Jesus Christ. That we are the sheep of His pasture. It's a call for us to remember the grace that is in Him. Grace upon grace. We're the people that have been given by the Father to the Son in sovereign grace. Listen, the history of Israel has been littered with failure, but now we see change. We see the future. We see the church being here, the lineage of grace, and that we are being led by His skillful hand in the last verse. And by the way, His leadership is invincible. Grace, they forgot it's grace. The sad historic portrayal of the weakness, the impotence of Israel shows our need of God's omnipotence. That the Davidic shepherd Jesus Christ shepherds his flock, led by his hands, and it ends with this glorious truth that our future in Christ is bright, Remember God. Fill your mind with thoughts of the Lord. Set your affections upon Him. Let truth be your guide, because truth will always guide us to Jesus. The scripture says, the Lord speak of me. Amen. Well, Lord, we're so thankful for this wonderful reminder to remember our triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This pattern, this text has been given to us that we would not follow after their unbelief, that we would not follow after their failure to remember God. Lord, may we, may each one in the sound of my voice and those that will listen to this sermon through the internet, Remember Jesus Christ that every morning when we wake to new mercies who will remember Jesus Christ that in our night watch that we will Remember Jesus Christ like the psalmist and Psalm 1 2 that on his law. We will meditate day and night May we fill our minds with the divine truth? May we be a people that always remember the Lord Jesus Christ risen from the dead the seed of David and May that be within our minds both now and forever. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Let's all stand.