The Birth of Samuel, Part 3

If you have your Bible turn me to 1st Samuel chapter 1 we're gonna look one more time at the birth of Samuel The birth of Samuel sets the tone for our study of this man his life and how God would use him in a great and mighty Way, but you need to understand exactly what takes place in chapter 1 to begin to understand this woman his mother Hannah how she prayed and what God did as she brought her needs to the Lord For same with chapter 1 is about the record of Samuel's birth in that record you had results Of that birth as well as the remembrance in the birth and I talked about the remembrance in the birth because it's a little Phrase that is simply stated but has a monumental Meaning in verse 11 of 1st Samuel 1 Hannah prays that the Lord would remember her in Verse number 19.

It says and the Lord remembered Hannah and The question for us is what does that mean? How do we understand that little phrase that so? Simply stated but means so very very much not just to Hannah but to us When she went to pray she truly prayed She did more than just spew forth some words to speak some words out of vain repetition She truly prayed to the Lord She truly poured her heart out to the Lord and she truly was committed to Giving everything that she had When she prayed to the Lord so we talked to you about that prayer What does it mean to pray and not just say prayers?

But the unique thing about it is that she did ask the Lord to remember her and I wonder how many times over the years we have asked the Lord to remember us and Then to see that the Lord did remember Hannah Well, what does that mean does that mean that somehow God had maybe forgotten about her it had been years I mean after all Panina the other wife of Elkanah had children Plural so there were many children involved not just one or two or three there There were many children involved this had taken place over years That Hannah had received this abuse from Elkanah's other wife And she was able to endure it But it came to a point where she was unable to endure it anymore and she poured her heart out to the Lord but did the Lord somehow forget about Hannah that he had closed her womb because the text tells us that it's the Lord who closed her womb in fact twice it tells us to let us know that God was supernaturally involved in Closing the womb of Hannah so that she would not get pregnant God did that So that at the right time She would give birth to the right child That would turn the course of a nation God was in complete charge of the whole situation But like you like me we tend to think that that God somehow Doesn't remember Somehow God is so busy doing other things like Genesis 8 1 and God remembered Noah Was he so busy flooding the earth that he had forgotten about Noah and his family in the ark.

He told him to build Took him 120 years to build the ark and then for 40 days and 40 nights It rained and water gushed up out of the earth It did God forget about Noah and his family because he was so busy flooding the earth No God did not forget Because God can't forget God always remembers He's on mission On top of that he's omnipresent He's everywhere at all times So even if he would happen just not to know something just by virtue of the fact of always being there He would know what was happening But God knows everything he's decreed the end from the beginning God doesn't forget a thing In fact Israel would ask the question in Isaiah chapter 40 They would say in verse number 27 these words Why do you say Oh Jacob and a certain Israel my way is hidden from the Lord and the justice do me escapes the notice Of my God in other words Israel asked the question God responds.

Why do you say that I haven't remembered you? Why would you even suggest? That your situation has escaped my notice Why would you even begin to think the thoughts let alone verbalize The thought that somehow Your God has forgotten you And so the Lord responds do you not know have you not heard the everlasting God The Lord the creator of the ends of the earth does not become where we are tired and his understanding is inscrutable You heard Do you not know?

He turns the table I have have you forgotten I haven't but but have you forgotten Have you forgotten the God you serve? that the everlasting God who is perpetually always present Who is the Lord who is all-powerful? Who is the creator who designs who is the master architect of every situation in every circumstance? Have you not heard about him? Have you forgotten about him? He never grows weary or tired his understanding is unsearchable He says He gives strength to the weary into him who lacks might he increases power Though youse grow weary and tired and vigorous young men stumble badly yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength They will mount up with wings like eagles.

They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary He goes back to that same energy about us today morning He gives the identity of God then he gives the ministry of God and then he gives the responsibility of the people of God They are to wait upon the Lord. They are to trust in that God who is everlasting They are to trust in that God who is the Lord who is the creator because that's who he is His ministry to them is to make sure they are the ones who never become weary or tired Therefore you are to trust and wait on him But like Israel Like the disciples we tend to think that God has forgotten about our plight Somehow God does not remember the situation that he created That I am now in That somehow he is so busy helping somebody else with their marriage.

He doesn't have time to help me with my marriage He is so busy helping other families raise their kids. He has no time to help me raise my kids He is so busy blessing others He has forgotten to bless me now none of us would Say that out loud But down deep in the depths of our soul We tend to think that God has has completely forgotten about our situation Or worse He doesn't even care Doesn't even care I mean, he's so busy running the universe who's got time to worry about my situation, right? But that's not our God And that's why Hannah prayed Lord remember me The thief on the cross would say the same thing Lord remember me when you come Into your kingdom What would cause him to say that?

We'll talk to you about that in a moment But you need to understand What it means when it says that God remembered Hannah What it means when it says that God remembered Rachel What it means in Genesis 8 when it says that God remembered Noah Or Genesis 19 God remembered Abraham what does that actually mean? How do we understand that in? today's day and age How did they understand it? How do we come to grips with the fact that God? truly never forgets It must mean something different than we understand to me In other words for God to remember means that God is actually paying attention And not only does it pay attention he fulfills The promises that he has made To the people he's made the promises to in other words.

It means that God truly is actively involved in your situation in mind So Let me help you understand what it means when we say that God remembers And behind me you're gonna have a little outline that will help spell it out for you in case you can't keep up with me Okay, but it will spell it out very Clearly for you so you can understand you can take these notes home and that you can begin to study them and digest them to Understand what it means when the Bible says that God remembers his people Okay to understand That phrase you must realize that when God remembers number one he reveals his Person he reveals his Person when the Bible says that God remembers he is doing something To you for you that will help you understand who he is yes Because everything centers around the identity of the of the Christ the identity of the Lord God of Israel, who is he?

Because who he is determines what he does So he's in the process of revealing to you his identity Revealing to you his character revealing to you his name So that you understand it for instance in first Samuel 1 When the Lord remembers Hannah he reveals to her his providence Because the writer what makes it very clear.

That's the Lord who closed her womb Therefore if the Lord closed the womb the Lord would have to open the womb and For the Lord to open the womb he would have to open it at a precise time for a precise reason So Therefore he would reveal something about his person to Hannah that he is providentially in control of every situation So Hannah in her prayer Lord remember me is asking God To reveal something to her about himself so when she conceives he reveals his Person Turn back with me if you would to Genesis chapter 16 Genesis chapter 16.

Oh As you're doing that, let me read to you Genesis 8 1 8 verse number 1 It's been over a year since God has spoken to to Noah When it says the verse number 1 of chapter 8 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him think about that for a moment Can you digest that for a moment and God remembered Noah, but God didn't just remember Noah He remembered all the beasts as well and all the cattle that were with him in the ark Wow Does God actually Truly care about your beasts can that possibly be Now remember they are created by God, right But the Bible says that not only did God just remember Noah But he remembered all the cattle all the beasts that were on the ark.

So the Bible says in Genesis 16 the host of their stories about Abraham Sarah and Hagar Hagar is the Egyptian handmaid She was Sarah's answer To their problem she was she was yeah, she was Sarah's and Abraham's answer To Sarah's infertility her inability to have children She would take matters into her own hands.

God had promised them a seed Seed wasn't born She wasn't coming So Like every resilient woman she takes matters into her own hands and has a plan for her husband She's gonna relay that plan to her husband to make sure he understands God's plan so they can have the promise seed not knowing that when you take matters into your own hands the problems that's going to Cause she said have Hagar our handmaid go into you. She will conceive She'll bear a child the promise seed will come Hagar went into Abraham She conceived and all of a sudden Sarah Was extremely jealous She went to Abraham She told him We got a problem here She looks at me with disdain She looks at me as if she's better than I am And Abraham trying to Demonstrate some kind of leadership, but he didn't says You deal with it You handle it so she did She treated treated Hagar With such nastiness The Hagar left she left listen what the Bible says Sarah treated her harshly when she fled from her presence Now the angel of the Lord found her first time that phrase is used in Scripture The angel of the Lord is the pre-incarnate Christ.

It's the first time it's used It'll be used many more times after this, but this is the first time it's used So in other words Jesus Christ shows up But Hagar never cried out to the Lord But he shows up anyway Now the angel of the Lord found her by the spring of water in the wilderness by the spring on the way to sure He said Hagar Sarah's maid Where have you come from?

And where are you going as if he doesn't know, of course, he knows he knows everything He knows her name, right? He knows that she Sarah's handmaid So he must have known where she was coming from and where she was going She said I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarah And the angel of the Lord said to her return to your mistress and submit yourself to her authority Moreover the angel of the Lord said to her. I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be Too many to count the angel of the Lord said to her further behold.

You are with child You will bear a son Should call his name Ishmael Because the Lord has given heed to your affliction He will be a wild donkey of a man His hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand will be against him and he will live to the east of all his brothers That she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her Elroy or the God who sees For she said I have I even remained alive here after seeing him In other words, I have seen the one Who sees me therefore the well was called beer laharoi behold that is between Kadesh and Bered Beer laharoi is the well of the living one Who sees me?

The well of the living one who sees me in other words The text does not say that the Lord remembered Hagar But the Lord reveals his person to Hagar Because he wants her to know that he is the God who sees her amidst her hardship Hagar had heard about the Living God because Abraham Was given a promise the father of a great nation And I'm sure Abraham and Sarah and their discussions would discuss about God's promised seed and God's promise to him and to his wife And what God was going to do so she had heard about the Lord God of Israel She'd never seen the Lord God of Israel She named her son Ishmael meaning God hears, right?

But she named the place El Roy because not only does God hear her God sees her See God wants to reveal himself to you and me He does He's going to do that through his word He's given us his word so that we can understand him But he wants to reveal his person to us. So so that when the Bible says and the Lord Remembered her He is revealing something to her or to him About his person So they will never forget see God doesn't want us to forget we do But God doesn't want us to forget Because you see he never forgets So he wants to reveal himself to us in such a way that we will never soon forget who he is or what he's done and so to say the Lord remembered Hannah or Rachel or Abraham or Noah Means that God reveals his person Number two it means he evidences his presence He evidences his Presence in other words he wants you to know he's never left He wants you to know he's always there the presence of God is so profound to speak of God's on my presence is To speak of God being in the past the present the future all at the same time That's incomprehensible to you and me God is in the past present and future all at the same time because God exists outside the realm of time So God sees all of it at once because he's in all of it at the same time Speaking of God's omnipresence He's everywhere it's almost that if I make my bed she'll behold thou art there There's no place that you can escape the presence of God Jonah thought he could escape the presence of God remember that God wanted him to go to Nineveh He did not want to go to Nineveh and Jonah one is very clear that Jonah fled the other way because he wanted to escape the presence of God here was a prophet of God a spokesperson for God Who had bad theology about the God he represented?

How do you how can he be a spokesperson for God and have such bad theology? That somehow God is not going to be on the boat. That's going to go the opposite direction. I've been commanded to go You see God is everywhere He is perpetually present with us listen to Psalm 136 Psalm 136 verse number 23 God who remembers us in our lowest state our lowest state For his loving-kindness is everlasting verse 24 and Has rescued us from our adversaries for his loving-kindness is everlasting So it speaks of God remembering us in our present condition, but not only does he Just remember he rescues and how is he able to rescue?

Because in remembering he evidences his presence He's always there He's never not there Can you grasp that You think that Hannah ever had an inkling that God Wasn't with her in her marriage Because it was so bad Her husband knew she couldn't conceive so he married another woman Instead of praying with her about her infertility instead of praying with her about her barrenness. He just cast her aside and marry someone else and Lo and behold she conceives many children Isn't God good? To everybody except to maybe Hannah But God is always good even to Hannah amidst her difficulty because he's always there The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 23 27 these words Jeremiah 23 verse number 27 Am I a God who is near declares the Lord and not a God far off?

Can a man hide himself in hiding places so I do not see him declares the Lord Do I not feel the heavens and the earth declares the Lord? It's almost as if God has a sense of humor That he says you got to be kidding me. Do you actually think you can hide from the presence of God? There's a place that I'm not I Feel I feel heaven and earth The Bible wants us to understand as the psalmist said in Psalm 46 These great words and we read it to you just a couple of weeks ago But Psalm 46 is one of those Psalms that help us to understand the greatness of God not just being our refuge but it says that God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble Some texts say an ever-present help in trouble How can God be our refuge?

in our distress Because he's always there That's how He is a very present help in trouble. That's what a psalmist said in Psalm 73 verse number 28 the nearness of God is my good The nearness of God is my good Because he's always there prophet Isaiah Isaiah chapter 49 Said this Isaiah 49 prophet said these words but Zion said the Lord has Forsaken me and the Lord has Forgotten me Zion is a place but Zion also is the people the people of God And so the people of God are saying that God is forsaken.

God has forgotten me Or responds can a woman forget her nursing child and had no compassion on the son of her womb even these may forget but I Will not forget you Behold, I've inscribed you on the palms of my hands Your walls are continually Before me When God remembers you he reveals his person He evidences his presence and number three He manifests his power and his preeminence He manifests his power and his preeminence For Hannah, he would manifest his power by opening her womb She would cry out to him.

She would pray to him. She would make a vow to him and God would open her womb She the reason the Lord remembers you in your situation Is because he truly wants to manifest something to you And that is his power remember Exodus chapter 2 Exodus chapter 2 Says now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died and the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage and they cried out and The cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God so God heard their groaning and God Remembered But that he remembered He remembered his covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob God saw the sons of Israel God took notice of them God remembered God was going to reveal his person to Israel God was going to evidence his presence to Israel And God was going to manifest his power and his preeminence to Israel and all those in Egypt the Lord remembered And so it says over in Chapter 3 Verse 7 the Lord said I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt And have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters taskmasters For I'm aware of their sufferings So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians To bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land to a land flowing with milk and honey to the place of the Canaanite Hittite Amorite parasite, but if I and Jebusite oh, I'm coming down And I'm going to rescue them.

I'm going to deliver that I'm going to redeem them They have yet to see power But I'm gonna manifest my power and my preeminence So Pharaoh knows who I am So Egypt knows who I am So Israel knows Who I am When God remembers his people He manifests his power and his preeminence Remember the book of Judges Judges chapter 16 With Samson and the Bible says These words in verse 20 That Samson did not know that the Lord had departed from him Remember the whole situation with he and Delilah Finally she told him he told her that you know, my strength is in my hair.

His strength wasn't really in his hair the hair was just Representative of the Nazarite vow. He had taken his commitment to God. His strength was in his relationship with the Lord not his hair But when he got his hair He had remigged on his vow to God and therefore The relationship with God was broken the fellowship with God was broken He lost all of his strength He did not know that the Lord had departed. How sad is that? How sad is that? He wanted to go out and fight the Philistines as he always had done, but he did not know the Lord had departed He'd lose the battle.

He was chained to some oxen He they gorged out his eyes But notice what Samson would say verse 28 Samson called to the Lord It said Oh Lord, please Remember me that great So Hannah said Lord remember me Here Samson Lord remember me and Please strengthen me just this time He prayed Fellowship was restored and Strength was gained Strengthen me just this time Oh God that I may at once be avenged the Philistines for my two eyes You know the story Samson grasped the pillars pushed them out The walls came tumbling down Philistines died Samson died he killed more in his death than in his life He judged for 20 years But he'd asked the Lord to remember him and God did remember Samson Because God was going to manifest his power Not Samson's power his power and his preeminence overall Because that's what God does when he remembers his people So number one he reveals his person number two he evidences his presence number three he manifests his power in preeminence and therefore he establishes his promises as permanent and perpetual And they're good Of course it is he establishes his promises as Permanent and Perpetual he wants you to know that everything he said is Absolutely true So he's going to establish his promises There's a book in the Bible entitled the Lord Remembers anybody know what that book is ah Aren't you glad you came because all those people who missed the night you can quiz them And say did you know that there was a book in the Bible?

Entitled the Lord remembers and they're gonna say no, I didn't know that and you can say oh you must have missed Wednesday night Didn't you? Because they did It's the book of Zechariah Zechariah the Lord Remembers that's what his name means The Lord remembers. Oh, by the way, the first verse of the book of Zechariah of Chapter 1 is a verse that describes to you the meaning of the book It says in the eighth month of the second year of Darius the Word of the Lord came to Zechariah the Lord remembers Zechariah the Prophet the son of Barakaya Know what that means?

That's why you're here. It means God will bless Then it says this the son of Edu which means the appointed time in other words the name of the prophets is The meaning and message of the book God remembers at the appointed time and God will bless And that's exactly what the book of Zechariah is all about He was a contemporary of Haggai and as he began to prophesy he would prophesy concerning the rebuilding of a nation the rebuilding of the temple of God and With that rebuilding would be a restoration of the nation that would come Temporarily and that would ultimately come when Messiah arrived in Zechariah's whole ministry was to get them to understand that the Lord never forgot you while you were in Babylonian captivity But he always remembered his covenant with Abraham with David and with Jacob And the Lord will never forget and because the Lord always remembers His King is coming So rebuild the temple make it ready for the arrival of the Messiah Because he's going to come and so Zechariah would give a Short future prophecy and then a long-term prophecy about the second coming of the Messiah But the whole book is All centered around how God Remembers his people because God remembers his covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob God remembers God establishes his promises as Permanent and Perpetual that is they go across the board.

That's why that's why we believe in a future for Israel There are many churches that you know, most churches don't believe in a future for Israel They believe that somehow the church has replaced Israel and now the church is going to get all the covenant promises given to Abraham Given to Isaac given to David and somehow now we receive those covenant promises. Not true. That's not true God is going to fulfill Abrahamic and Davidic promise to the nation of Israel. That's going to happen Exactly as he said why?

because the Lord remembers And God remembers his covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and David And because he does He will establish his promises as Perpetual as Permanent and they will never change And God wants you to see just that and that's why when Eli said to Hannah he said go in peace and May the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him. In other words, may God fulfill What you have asked him that he'd be faithful in answering your prayer Because God is a faithful God and God answers prayer I'll so much more to say about that.

But let me move on. Okay, so when God remembers he reveals his person evidences his presence Manifests his power and preeminence Establishes his promises a permanent perpetual and next he magnifies his plans and purposes He magnifies his plans and his Purposes When God rained down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah Genesis 19 it says and God remembered Abraham and saved Lot. God remembered Abraham Abraham had prayed for Sodom and Gomorrah specifically for his nephew Lot Somehow God would spare the city if there be if there be Ten righteous surely that'd be ten righteous, but there wasn't and God didn't spare the city, but he did spare Lot Abraham's nephew Because he was going to magnify his plans He was going to magnify his purposes So all will see that God will judge evil He will Just like he said Just like he said He magnified his plans and purposes when Samuel was born Do you not?

When she conceived his plans and purposes came into focus for everybody to see that God was changing the course of a nation when God remembered Elizabeth and John the Baptist was born and when he opened her womb He was once again going to magnify his plans and purposes because now the Messiah was going to come There had to be a forerunner to Messiah as the Old Testament prophesied John the Baptist was that prophet and he was going to magnify his plans and purposes for all to see Because when God remembers he wants everybody to know he's in complete control of everything that's happening Everything Nothing happens by accident Everything is by divine appointment.

He's in charge. He's in control It's never out of control in God's solar system It runs on schedule It runs on time in the fullness of time God sent forth his son born of a woman Born under the law In order that he might redeem those who are under the law It was at the perfect time The exact time The Messiah was born God has a magnificent plan and Purpose for your life and mine It includes him So therefore That plan will be magnified at the right time Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. He will exalt you in due time But by that last week with Hannah's prayer, right?

She humbled herself. She saw herself as a maidservant. She saw herself in the service of the king And when she humbled herself God exalted her at the proper time How many times had Hannah prayed over the years When Panina gave birth to child number one child number two child number three Child number four five and however many she had we don't know the text doesn't tell us But how many times has she humbled herself in the sight of the Lord and yet God had yet to exalt her Because it wasn't time he exalts in due time he exalts at the proper time He never exalts too early.

He never exalts too late. It's always the right time We have to trust him for that We have to ask the Lord Lord remember me and Lord when you do magnify for all to see Every plan that you have every purpose that you have for my life from my family for my church from my workplace Because Lord you're in charge And when Hannah prayed Lord remember me that's exactly what she was saying Lord magnify your plans reveal to me your person Evidence your presence Manifest your power your preeminence Establish your promises magnify your plans your purposes Next when God remembers he bestows pardon and peace when God remembers he bestows pardon and peace God does this Nobody else Hebrews 10 17 says their iniquities I Will remember No more good Is there something that God doesn't remember?

Yeah, your iniquities now, does that mean that God has forgotten all your sins? No He just refuses to bring them up again He cast him into the depths of the sea So that they're never brought back up to you ever again He's forgiven you all your sins past present and future. That's the miracle of saving grace and So what God does is he bestows? Upon you and me Pardon and peace because peace only comes through the forgiveness of sins, right? Does it come any other way? And so when the Lord remembers There's one thing he doesn't remember That is your iniquities and mine So when the thief on the cross said Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom, what was he asking?

He had already heard the Lord say these words father forgive them for they know not what they're doing So he already hears about the forgiveness of God So when he says Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom, he is asking God to bestow Forgiveness bestow pardon upon him And God says what today You shall be with me in paradise.

Wow, what a promise What did God do God established? his promise as Permanent and perpetual in the life of the thief when he remembered the thief He magnified his plan and his purposes for that thief He bestowed pardon and peace to that thief He revealed his person to that thief He said Lord Remember me when you come into your kingdom. He knew he was the Lord He knew he was the king because he had a kingdom And God revealed his person to the thief He evidenced his presence because he was just not even a stone's throw away.

He was an arm length away And he made sure That he manifested his power In his preeminence over sin Satan and death all that When the thief just simply asked Lord Remember me that great next when God remembers he enters our plight and Embraces our pleas This is a dual one you get two for the price of one he enters our plight and embraces our pleas Do you think for one moment that God did not enter the plight of Hannah? Of course he did oh by the way, he caused the plight in Hannah He closed her womb.

So do you think he would Close her womb and yet not have the empathy and the sympathy for her in her plight not at all In Matthew 9 when when Christ looked at the multitude who were coming to him. He looked on them with compassion Because they were like sheep without a shepherd. They they had no leadership. They had no direction. They had no guidance So he looked upon them with compassion. He entered their plight When he was on his way to that little city named there in the Jezreel Valley and out of the city of name comes this widow who lost her only son and she is Weeping over the fact that the only son that she had was now gone And he and the disciples were on the way into the city they're on their way out of the city And the Bible says that Christ saw the woman Had compassion on the woman and Said to the woman weep No more.

He reached over he touched the dead body of the son And raised him from the dead The Bible says he gave the boy back to his mother Just to be there for that scene He gave him back to her do you think that one moment he did not enter her plight and embrace Her plea.

Oh he did We have a high priest who can actually sympathize with every one of our weaknesses Nobody in the room can sympathize with your weaknesses some of them maybe But not all of them There's only one who can do that and we get to Hebrews chapter 4 we'll see where where Christ is that sympathetic high priest Who's better than the Aaronic priesthood because he can actually feel and understand the plight of his people God knows Because God created you He created you so he knows everything there is to know about you That's remarkable.

And so he enters Your plight he embraces your plea to let you know That he remembers And he will manifest his presence he will magnify his plans and purposes He will make sure that everybody sees and understands his power Because he's going to reveal exactly who he is In your situation So God wants to do and lastly when God remembers He rejoices with his people he rejoices with his people Zephaniah Chapter 3 verse 14 shout for joy. Oh daughter of Zion shouted triumph. Oh Israel rejoice and exult with all your heart Oh daughter of Jerusalem, the Lord has taken away his judgments against you He has cleared away your enemies the King of Israel.

The Lord is in your midst You will fear disaster no more in that day. It will be said to Jerusalem. Do not be afraid. Oh Zion Do not let your hands fall limp. The Lord your God is in your midst a victorious warrior He will exult over you a joy. He will be quiet in his love. He will rejoice over you a shout to joy Wow When's God going to do that? When he redeems his people His people Israel now note this got your Bible turn me to the book of Malachi third chapter as Malachi pronounces God's judgment upon the ungodly God has a remnant of people He's always had a remnant of people in every period of time that are faithful to him He says this verse 16 then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another and the Lord gave attention and Heard it in other words the Lord remembered He gave attention he heard their cries and a book of Remembrance was written before him Wow a Book of Remembrance is God actually have to write it down to remember it.

I do Don't you I got to write it down or I'm gonna forget it Does that mean that God has to have a book in remembrance so that he doesn't forget about his children his people? says Or give attention heard it and the book of Remembrance was written before him for those who fear the Lord and esteem his name They will be mine says the Lord of Hosts on the day that I prepare my own Possession or my own jewel or my own treasure and I will spare them as a man spares his own son Who serves him so you will again?

distinguish between the righteous and the wicked between one who serves God and one who does not serve him God has a book of Remembrance know what God does a book of Remembrance God writes down every righteous deed of his people remember Revelation 20 The great white throne judgment God opens the books What books are those? Those are the books of every thought every evil deed every sinful act of every unbeliever. He's got him all recorded Do you think God would record all the evil deeds and all the evil thoughts and all the evil actions of the unbeliever yet not record all your good deeds He does that in the book of Remembrance Because he wants to exalt over you with joy in his presence Because you feared his name You esteemed him as Lord over your life his life.

Yeah your life, but there's also a book of life Right in Revelation 20 opens the book that Evidence is all the unrighteous deeds of all the unrighteous Is another book called the book of life and the people? Whose evil acts are written in the books that were opened are not in the book of life Because that was the book of life that records all the names of those Who would be born again from eternity past and they were not written or their names were not written in the book of life the lands book of life and they were cast into the eternal fire But God has a book of Remembrance Why?

Because God wants to rejoice over his people He does And so he will record All the things that his people do Because he wants to rejoice over his people when God remembers he writes it down. I That God is Not unjust so as to forget your work and The love which you have shown toward his name in having ministered and in still ministering to the Saints God never forgets. How come he never forgets because he writes it down in a book of remembrance. That's why He's not a just to forget all The good deeds that you have shown to his people in his name It's not a just he remembers them all That's what God does in response to all that What do we do?

Wouldn't be tragic if we didn't remember him Wouldn't be tragic You know, we expect God to remember us and missed our plight But as soon as he answers prayer, how often do we just forget all about him and just go on 2nd Timothy 2 8 Paul says Timothy remember Jesus Christ Really? Timothy is a pastor He's actually gonna forget about Jesus Christ. Oh You'd be surprised That's why Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 12 verse number 1 remember now your creator in the days of your youth Remember him now while you're young Because you want to take him through your life How tragic it is for us to not remember during the healing of the ten lepers One came back And gave thanks and praise to God And Jesus asked this question were there not ten Who were healed He asked the question because it's innate to our nature to forget One didn't forget One came back and gave praise to God The others they could care less It's something you want to forget Nobody leaves church thinking boy.

That was a great message, but I'm gonna forget it tomorrow. I can't wait to forget that message Well, maybe sometimes you do say that I don't know but but no one leaves thinking boy, I can't wait to forget that one No, no one leaves that way But we just do we get so busy we get so entangled with the affairs of the world the things that work the things that play the things at school that we just forget How tragic is that How tragic is that The least that we can do is to thank him for his remembrance of us Thank him for his remembrance of us and vow to our God Lord.

I will remember you I Will remember Jesus Christ the son of David risen from the dead I Will not get so busy in life That I just can't even muster up enough To remember about my Christ, I'm gonna be tragic For us not to remember this lesson What it's about how God remembers us And what he does when he remembers let me pray with you father we thank you Lord for your word There is so much we didn't even begin to to cover tonight about what your word says about You remembering us and that's not remembering you and Yet Lord You are so good to us We are so undeserving and unworthy of your thoughts and yet We're never out of your thoughts Forgive us Lord when you're out of ours Forgive us Lord when we get so busy that The memory of your name does not even come across our minds When you said in Psalm 77 we are to give thanks that the remembrance of your holy name Lord, please We have asked you to remember us And in many ways You have remembered us over and over again Help us Lord to remember you And all that you have done for the glory of your name We pray in Jesus name Amen