Psalm 70. Psalm 70. I titled the message, What Do We Need to Bring to Remembrance? I took that title from the heading of Psalm 70. to the chief musician, a psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. This psalm was written to bring something to remembrance. I think I've got some of those things that I want to give you tonight. In thinking about this message, my thoughts went back to when God created Adam. God created a perfect man. Adam knew no sin. Adam had perfect use of all his faculties. Can you imagine that? I can't even begin to imagine what it'd be like to have full use of my mind and all that God's given me, my senses, to have full use of them. But when sin came in, when Adam sinned, it marred all his abilities. Now we don't have full use of anything. That's so sad. It's so sad. Sin has taken over our bodies, our minds, our emotions, affections. Sin has taken over all of it. And now we are so forgetful of those things which we ought to remember. This is the thought that really stayed with me. I have stayed away from doing this one for, what, three weeks at least? And here in the last couple of days, that word right there, remember. Bring to remembrance. And I thought, boy, there's so many things I forget, so many blessings, so many blessings. We forget things we ought to remember, and we remember things we ought to forget. That's just the way our mind works. But I thank God there is one who remembers us. God remembered Noah. in that ark. He remembered the covenant he made with Abraham. That thief on the cross said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And he said, today you'll be with me in paradise. Listen to these scriptures. In Ecclesiastes 12.1, Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. You know, it's just... I can't express how great it is when God saves a young person, when He saves someone in their youth, and their youth is not spent in sin and self, but spent in remembering God. thinking upon Him, knowing Him. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not." He's not talking about golden years. You know, the Bible don't talk about the old ages, golden years. It calls it evil days. Pain of the body and the mind slips. Everything starts to deteriorate. You know, the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. I have no pleasure in them. Revelations 2.5, "'Remember therefore for whence thou art fallen, and repent.'" Speaking there to the church. "'And do the first works, or else,' he said, "'I'm going to come and remove the candlestick.'" And then in Luke 22.19, it says that, "'The Lord took bread, He gave thanks, broke it, and gave it unto them, saying, "'This is my body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me.'" When I read that, I think it's so sad on my part that I have to be told to remember the Lord. That I have to be told that. You know, when the Lord asked Peter if he loved Him, and about the third time, Peter was... it just broke his heart. It disturbed him. It should have disturbed him the first time the Lord asked him. It ought to disturb me if my wife asked me one time, do you love me? She shouldn't have to, should she? I should be expressing that love daily. When I read that about Peter, said the third time, it really just broke his heart, but it should have broke his heart the first time when the Lord said, Peter, do you love me? And this is after he denied him. This do in remembrance of me." So this psalm is to bring to remembrance. What are we to remember? I'm just going to give you some things that I think we are to remember. Strive to remember. Strive to keep them before us constantly. First of all, we need to remember that God is our God. God, the God of salvation, the God of creation, is our God. We do not believe in an idol. We do not believe in a God that does not exist. The very God of heaven and earth is our God. I'll be their God and they will be my people. We should keep that in front of us. We should always keep the being of God before us, and we should always keep who He is, His character. Not just the fact that He is, but the character of God before us, holy and just, gracious and merciful. This is our God. This is our God. You know, the old saying goes like this, out of sight, out of mind. That's sad but true, isn't it? We usually think most upon what we're looking at all the time. That's what we usually think of. But listen here to what David said in Psalm 16.8, I have set the Lord always before me. I have set Him always before me, because He's at my right hand, I shall not be moved. We should keep His greatness, His power, His love, and His mercy always before us. We should live in the reality of that. You know, it's one thing to hear these words, but it's another thing to meditate upon them and to digest them, to take them into ourselves. The greatness of God, the immenseness of God, the power of God, everything right now is working by His power. He has the power to make everything work for your good and my good. He makes everything work for our good. By His power, He does that. And His love, who can express the love of God? It's an everlasting love. There's never a time God did not love me. There was a time I did not love Vicki because I didn't know her. I didn't know her. I met her when we were just teenagers. But before that, I didn't know her. But it cannot be said that there was a time that God did not know me. He's always known me. And I don't mean just know my existence, but He's known me in a special way. And the same with you, you who believe. God has always known you in a special way. He's known you in covenant. I'm so glad that God is a covenant God because God Almighty never breaks His covenant. Never! Never breaks His covenant. We should think upon His mercy. It's written in Psalm 23 that His mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives. God's mercy is continually on us. We should always keep that before us. And we should always keep the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the author and finisher of our faith, always before us. His character, His person, the God-man, substitute, high priest. He's everything to us. The Lamb of God, the atonement, His blood of atonement, His righteousness. Everything we need, we have in Jesus Christ. Our thoughts should be upon Him daily, as often as we can, because I know we have to work and we have to give our thoughts to other things at times, but He should always be before us. Always. And I know this, the more we keep God in our thoughts and before us, the more peace we will have. You want peace? You want peace of heart, peace of conscience? Think upon the Lord. Keep Him before you. Listen to this scripture, Isaiah 26.3. Now let me say this, the Word of God means what it says. I don't get that across to myself. It means what it says. Now listen, Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee. That's a promise of God. If my mind is stayed on the Lord Jesus Christ, He will keep me in perfect peace. That peace which comes from above. Not a false peace, but His peace. He said, My peace I leave with you. The peace that He enjoyed, He gives to us. And He says here, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee. There's how you get it. There's how you get it. Think upon the Lord often. And then secondly, we need to remember our need of His deliverance continually. I don't just need deliverance from a place you call hell. I need deliverance daily. I need deliverance from the indwelling sin. And I know you are just like me. And I pray. I pray every day. Every time I pray, I always pray, Lord, help me to overcome indwelling sin. I know that old nature is still there. And I struggle with it. And I know you struggle with it. And the only one who can enable us to overcome indwelling sin is Christ. So we need to remember our need of His deliverance. God is the source of our help at all times. Not sometimes. It's not like I can walk part of the way, and then when it gets rough, I need Him. No. I need Him all the way. I need the Lord to carry me. Psalm 121, verse 1 and 2, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. Don't be afraid to say that. Don't be afraid to say that out there, not just in here. Sometimes I think we're afraid of sounding like these religionists that are lost, but don't let them shut you up because of their foolishness. I know what I'm talking about when I say this. I know what I'm talking about. My help cometh from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Listen to Isaiah 31. Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many, and in horsemen, because they are very strong, but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord." Don't go down. Don't turn to the world for help. Turn to the Lord. He'll answer. He'll send help in due time. We just turn to Him. And then thirdly, we need to remember His mercy and compassion fell not. They are new every morning. You and I are here tonight. You know why? Because His mercy and His compassion fell not. There can be a thousand things that could have stopped us from being here today, and He kept them away. Satan, there's nothing Satan would love more than for you to stay at home. But he didn't allow it. God didn't allow him to do it. Believe me, he would throw everything in your way to keep you from being here. But God didn't allow him to do it. You know, I think one of the things that would be surprising, probably one of the most surprising If the Lord opened our eyes to it in glory, not now, but in glory, if He opened our eyes to how many times He delivered us from those things we can't see, how many times our lives have been saved and never even knew it, and He kept the danger back, and we never knew it. Never knew it. Oh, His mercy. and His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness." Boy, that's one of the many things we can say about our Lord. Faithful, faithful, faithful. He never fails to be faithful. And then fourthly, we need to remember His promises. That's the reason that song I chose, standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises. God cannot lie. Isn't that comforting? God cannot lie. Satan can't tell the truth, but God can't lie. Whatever God has promised in this book, He will do it. Because He's honored His Word above His name. Because if His Word's no good, His name's no good either. A good name is better to be had than silver and gold, Solomon said. Our God cannot lie and He will fulfill all His promises. You and I need to get in this book and search out the promises of God. They belong to us. They belong to us. You'd think we'd know them by heart. You know what? You would think now from Genesis to Revelation, we would know all the promises of God by heart. Probably can't quote more than two or three of them. And fifthly, we need to remember the deliverances that we have received in the Lord Jesus Christ from sin, That sin nature that dominated us, that reigned as a king, He's delivered us from its power. Sin shall not have dominion over you. He delivered us from death. That second death, that's what I'm talking about, the second death. That lake of fire, the wrath of God. Satan, we've been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. We are in that kingdom right now. I live in His kingdom. I operate in His kingdom. That's what I'm concerned with more than anything else is the kingdom of God. That's why I'm here preaching. I'm preaching to His children who are in the kingdom. The kingdom of God. He delivered us from the grave. The grave is not going to hold us. We ought to be able to look at the grave as just a well-made bed, a comfortable place to rest, these bodies, until he comes. He's overcome the grave. Not everyone has this blessing, you know that? Paul said, all men have not faith. Not everyone has the blessings that we have. In fact, I think few have it. These are the things that I thought of that we need to remember. Now let's look at the prayer here briefly. Let's look at this prayer briefly. And keep in mind, when David, as he prays here, this is also our Lord, the Spirit of Christ, praying in David. This is Him speaking. And the first thing He does, He prays for help. We need help. We need help. Don't be afraid to ask for help. I know a man, one of the things he boasts about is that over the years he's never had to ask for help. Well, I have. Have you ever had to ask for help? Don't be afraid to ask for help. Don't be too proud to ask for help. We're needy creatures. Poor and needy need help. If you're needy, you need help. He prays for help, and our Lord prayed for help. Now listen, if Jesus Christ prayed for help, how much more should I pray for it? How much more me? He prayed for deliverance from His enemies, and He prays for quick deliverance. We have enemies. We have enemies. It's just that the Lord keeps them back. He may let them aggravate us a little here and a little there, but it's His hand, it's His power that holds them back, or you and I wouldn't be able to live here. He prays for help, for sometimes our case is more urgent than at other times. He prays for the Lord to do so quickly. You know, our Lord did. David did. And there's times when we need to pray, Lord, help me now. Help me now. I tell you what, if God ever puts you through a hard trial, you will. You'll learn how to pray for help quickly. Quickly. I remember, I won't tell this. I'm hesitant, I'm hesitant. Henry told us in the preacher school, don't use yourself as an example. Don't use yourself, your wife, your family. Don't use, because everybody will think you're the one that, you know, you're the standard. Christ is the standard. But it's been years ago. I was probably 20, 23, that's after I heard the gospel, 23, 24. I'd lost my job. And we were broke. I mean, we were broke. And at that time, unemployment was nothing. I mean, it was nothing compared to what I was making. I was making really good money. And then, anyway, make a long story short, I remember just, I prayed, Lord, I need help and I need it now. And that got on the phone ring just as I was, at the same time I was praying, the phone rang and I got the help I needed. Urgently. Urgently. Make haste. That's what I was praying, Lord, make haste. Make haste. And the phone rang as I was praying. I answered the phone and there was the help. Don't be afraid to ask God for speedy deliverance. Make haste, He said unto me. And then David acknowledges his unworthiness in this prayer. We don't pray because we deserve it. We don't pray because we deserve what we're asking for. That's the one thing that you and I need to know. Every time we pray, we don't deserve what we're asking for. We don't deserve it. And David says here, and this is our Lord praying also, I am poor and needy. The Scripture says He became poor that we through His poverty might be made rich. Needy? He had no place to lay His head. He said the foxes have holes, the birds of the air have a nest, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head. The One who created heaven and earth had no place to lay His head on this earth. No pillow. Even though he owned all things, as a man he owned nothing. He didn't own an inch of ground. I am poor and needy, and this is how we are spiritually, poor and needy, but thank God you are, because that's the kind of people He saves, poor and needy. We need to remember this. We need to recognize our condition, poor, and we need to recognize our position, needy. I'm poor and needy all the time. Every morning I wake up, I'm poor and needy. Think about David is the one praying here, and the Lord Jesus Christ praying here, the greater David. And the Lord Jesus Christ owned all things. He said, I own the cattle on a thousand hills. If I was hungry, I wouldn't tell you. David's the king of Israel. He's the king of Israel. And yet he felt that poverty of spirit. And I'm telling you this, our Lord felt everything about us. We have a high priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Am I poor and needy? He became poor and needy. He knows what that's about. And then David also here prays against his enemies. He prays that they will not succeed in their plots of wickedness. And this is a prayer of our Lord. This is a prayer of our Lord. Our Lord said this in the Psalms, Do not I hate them with perfect hatred? He said, I pray for them, I pray not for the world. There are people He does not pray for. He intercedes for a multitude of sinners given Him by the Father, but there are people He does not intercede for. And He prays that their plots against Him will fail. He said, Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame. Let that be their reward. Let their shame be their reward. They say, Aha! Aha! which is a form of mockery. It's like saying, Ha! Ha! Ha! I told you so. That's what they're saying. Ha! Ha! I told you so. Right in your face. And this is what they did to our Lord at the cross. Look in Matthew 27. Look in verse 29. And when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand, and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews. They spit on him, took the reed, and smote it on his head. They mocked him. Look in Luke 22. In Luke 22... Let me get there first. In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke 22... In Luke And then in Luke 23, look in verse 11. You'll see here how everybody mocked him. The people mocked him, the soldiers mocked him, and Herod mocked him. And Herod, with his men of war, set him at naught, made nothing of him, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate. And then look in verse 36. And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar. He says, let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, aha, aha, mocking him. It was a form of mocking. It's happened to our Lord. He says, I pray that the enemies the enemies of grace, the enemies of Christ, the enemies of the cross will be put to shame as their reward. Can you imagine when people wake up, when they die and they wake up and they face Him whom they mocked and made fun of? I've had people to make fun of right to my face of the gospel, the message. And when they die, when they die, it's going to be, son, remember. It's going to be, son, remember when you mocked, when you made fun of the gospel. And then David here, listen, David here, and the greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ, prays for his friends. He prays for deliverance. He prays for speedy deliverance. He prays against the wicked, that they will not prosper, that they will be turned back. And then he prays for his friends. He prays for the spiritual well-being of his friends. You can see verse 4 has an intercession of our Lord for us. This is for us. Let all those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee, and let such as love Thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified. Here He prays for their joy, our joy. That's why Paul always wrote, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. But our Lord here prays for our joy and our gladness. As we pass through this life, We pass through the water and through the fire. We pass through trials and heartaches. But there's a real joy in the Lord. There's a real joy in Him knowing that all things are of Him. He's controlling all things. And in a little while, we'll be with Him. This will be over. This will all be over. And He identifies His friends here. Now notice. David identifies his friends as those that love thy salvation. Who are your true friends, really? Who are your true friends that you want to be with? The ones that you put forth an effort to be with. The ones that you are glad to see coming. For every child of God, Here it is, those that love thy salvation. They love Jesus Christ who is their salvation. We love the same Lord. We seek His glory. Peter, he said, Do you love me? And Peter said to him, Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you. You know I love you. You know my heart. I'm glad the Lord can see my heart. He knows my sins before I was ever born. But He knows this too. He knows this. Lord, you know I love you. It's weak. It's pathetic. But I do love you. I do love you. Listen, they love the Lord Jesus Christ who is their salvation. They love the way God saves them in Christ alone. I love the salvation of the Lord. I love that salvation is of the Lord from Alpha to Omega. I love the fact that I don't have to produce anything because I can't. I can't. I love His blood alone. I love His righteousness alone. I love His grace alone. I love His person alone. And I can tell you this, that love is expressed in our life, in our everyday living. That love is expressed. If it's there, it's expressed. If it's not there, it's not there. And you can't make it be there. And I tell you this, they love thy salvation, they love the sureness of it. It's sure. It's a sure thing. Salvation in Christ is a sure thing. It says, He shall not fail. He shall not fail. And in closing, let those who love thy salvation say continually, let God be magnified. And it means this, let His glory continually increase. Is that not our desire? Our desire is not that our riches would increase, it's not that our reputation would increase, it's not that anything about me would increase, but that the glory of my Lord would increase. That He would enable me to preach His glory as I ought to preach it, beyond my abilities to preach it. Let Him be magnified. You know when you magnify something, what do you do? It just gets bigger and bigger, don't you? You take a magnifying glass, you put it over there, you can take it away from it like that, and the Word just gets bigger and bigger. I tell you what, if God, if God Almighty, if the Lord Jesus Christ is less than when we started, we've got a problem. We don't have the right one. God today ought to be more glorious to us Salvation in Christ ought to be more glorious to us than when we began. It ought to be a lot more glorious to us than when we began. Let them continually praise Him from whom all blessings flow. Let them continually be witnesses to God's salvation of them in the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you imagine the privilege the blessing of being allowed to be a witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said to Paul, I have chosen you, you are a chosen vessel to be a witness of the things you've seen and heard. And you and I have the blessing, the privilege of being a witness of the things that we have seen and heard. out of the Word of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessing that God would allow a wretch like me to stand here and do this. Let's remember to give Him the glory due His name. Let's remember to do that day by day. Let's remember to do that first thing in the morning and the last thing at night. Give Him the glory due unto His name.