“The Lord Remembered” … By Pastor Dan Kennedy © January 21, 2018 www.pastorkennedy.com All of us appreciate it when someone important remembers the promises they made to us. We all feel slighted when those we trust, forget to follow through on what they said they would do. God’s Covenant confirmed in perpetuity through The Rainbow Genesis 9:13–15 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. God Remembered His Conversation with Abraham Genesis 19:27–29 27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace. 29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived. God Remembered His Promise to Sarah Genesis 20:17–21:2 21 Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. God Remembered His Covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob Exodus 2:23–25 23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them. Psalm 105:38–42 38 Egypt was glad when they left, because dread of Israel had fallen on them. 39 He spread out a cloud as a covering, and a fire to give light at night. 40 They asked, and he brought them quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. 41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out; like a river it flowed in the desert. 42 For he remembered his holy promise given to his servant Abraham. Covenants in the Bible are promises made by God. Solemn promises that are not entered into lightly. What are some of the Covenants that God made with His people? Obedience: The Adamic Covenant (Gen. 2-3) Eat of every tree, but one.  Judgment: The Noahic Covenant (Genesis 9:8–17) The Rainbow Promise – no more catastrophic worldwide flood.  Faith: The Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 15:9–10, 18-21; 17:1-14; Romans 4) “The Just will live by Faith.”  Law: The Mosaic Covenant – The Laws of God (Ex. 20:1-17; Deut. 6)  Kingdom: The Davidic Covenant – A King Will Come (2 Sam. 7; Jeremiah 23:5–6; Isaiah 7:14; 9:6–7; Daniel 7:13–14; Rev. 19:11-16)  The New Covenant: God’s Law in our Hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25; 2 Cor. 3:6; Hebrews 8-9; 12:24))  What happens when God promises something, but it does not seem that He is going to fulfill His promise? Are there Examples in the Bible of God not seeming to fulfill His Promise? Abraham’s promised heir, Isaac. Born when Abraham was 100, and Sarah at 90 years of age. It seemed impossible for Abraham and Sarah to have a child; but, nothing is impossible with God. (Gen. 12:1-2; 18:1-15)  The Pain of the Continuing Struggle between the Godless and the Righteous:  Psalm 10 1 Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? 2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises. 3 He boasts of the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord. 4 In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. 11 He (the wicked) says to himself, “God has forgotten; he covers his face and never sees.” 12 Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless. 13 Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, “He won’t call me to account”? 14 But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. 15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil man; call him to account for his wickedness that would not be found out. 16 The Lord is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. 17 You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry…. The question may not be “Does the Lord Remember me?”; but, rather “Does God Forget Me?” “Has God Forgotten You?” Or, yet, another question: “Have We Forgotten God?” Some folks may feel God has forgotten them, when in reality, their forgetting God has caused God to bring them into their own personal discipline and Judgment. Covenants can also be Conditional: “If you do this, then I will do this.”  “If you do not do this, then this will be the outcome.”  Let’s look at this very sad passage in Jeremiah regarding the graphic discipline of God’s People who have forgotten Him. Jeremiah 18:15 “My people have forgotten Me.” Jeremiah 18:1–17 At the Potter’s House 18 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it. 11 “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ 12 But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.’” 13 Therefore this is what the Lord says: “Inquire among the nations: Who has ever heard anything like this?... 15 Yet my people have forgotten me… 16 Their land will be laid waste, an object of lasting scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will shake their heads. 17 Like a wind from the east, I will scatter them before their enemies; I will show them my back and not my face in the day of their disaster.” Jeremiah 13:24–25 24 “I will scatter you like chaff driven by the desert wind. 25 This is your lot, the portion I have decreed for you,” declares the Lord, “because you have forgotten me and trusted in false gods. Ezekiel 23:35 35 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Since you have forgotten me and thrust me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your lewdness and prostitution.” It isn’t God who does the “forgetting” – We are the ones who “forget God.” It seems, we tend to only remember God when we need something. God Remembers Us. He is our All-Powerful Creator. Luke 12:6–7 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Isaiah 49:15–16 15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! 16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. Hebrews 6:10 10 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. How Do We Not Forget God in This Faithless and Godless World? Noah did not forget God in a godless world.  Abraham did not forget God in a godless world.  Joseph did not forget God when thrown in prison.  The Early Christians did not forget God in vile persecution and martyrdom.  Believers in Jesus Christ today do not have to forget God in a self-centered, digital world.  Remembering God in a Faithless World It is a personal walk.  It is a practical walk.  It is a prudent walk.  It can be a secluded walk.  It is a walk in reliance upon God, His Word, and the Presence and Guidance of the Holy Spirit.  It will be a spiritually beneficial and eternally rewarding walk.  There has always been a palpable and substantial tension between the Godless world and those seeking to please God with their lives. God is very aware of both and His eyes are particularly attuned to those who love Him. This adversarial tension is recorded in many of the Psalms and is particularly observable in Psalm 37. Psalm 37 Of David. 1 Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; 2 for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. 3 Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: 6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. 7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. 12 The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; 13 but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming. 14 The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright. 15 But their swords will pierce their own hearts, and their bows will be broken. 18 The days of the blameless are known to the Lord, and their inheritance will endure forever. 19 In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty. 20 But the wicked will perish: The Lord’s enemies will be like the beauty of the fields, they will vanish—vanish like smoke. 32 The wicked lie in wait for the righteous, seeking their very lives; 33 but the Lord will not leave them in their power or let them be condemned when brought to trial. 35 I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a green tree in its native soil, 36 but he soon passed away and was no more; though I looked for him, he could not be found. 39 The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; he is their stronghold in time of trouble. 40 The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him. Psalm 9:17 17(NKJV) The wicked shall be turned into hell (the realm of the dead), And all the nations that forget God. 18 (NIV84) But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish. God cares for the Righteous. The wicked will be judged. Hold on to that Fact. Are We Forgetting God? Are you anxious and worried about what might happen to you in the future?   Are you concerned about what might be a gross heartache from the adverse circumstances you are experiencing right now?  Are you afraid of the disaster or sickness that might be waiting for you just around the corner?   Do you feel like God has forgotten you?  Are adverse personal circumstances driving us from God, or will they be a catalyst to draw us yet closer to God? When We Start to Forget About God When we tend to forget God we turn to worry, being anxious and increasingly fearful. Our hearts and minds begin to fill with concerns only about ourselves and our personal survival. We depend more and more on ourselves and surround ourselves with only those who “we can really trust.” We live to gratify ourselves more and more, always protecting ourselves… while drifting further away from trusting God, languishing further from the spiritual nourishment of God’s Word. We have a growing lack of inner peace, while diminishing in our faith in God, so we become even more anxious. We desperately try to “fix” things our way. In a Nautical example, high winds on the “sea of life” may begin to pummel our drifting personal-sized “cargo ship,” which is piled high with everything we have been gathering for ourselves throughout life. We try to secure our vessel to any mooring we can see around us which we can hold on to – something we can physically wrap our arms around, though we may be still far from shore. In our desire for security, unknowingly, we may be slowly releasing the only stable but invisible cord of our faith in God, not realizing that the supposed stability we might seek around us is only temporal – that which will actually rust, decay and die, and the Spiritual Resource we may be releasing, is indeed, our only substantial and eternal hope. (2 Cor. 4:18) What will it take for us to continue to Remember whose Children we are; and, if we are forgetting God, to Return in our heart, mind, and commitment to Him? Does God Remember You? Does God Know Where You Are Right Now?  Does God Know What You are Going Through?  Has God Forgotten You?  Will God Forget You?  God will not forget us. Luke 12:6–7 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5

“The Lord Remembered” …

By Pastor Dan Kennedy

www.pastorkennedy.com

All of us appreciate it when someone important remembers the promises they made to us.

We all feel slighted when those we trust, forget to follow through on what they said they would do.

God’s Covenant confirmed in perpetuity through The Rainbow

Genesis 9:13–15

13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.

God Remembered His Conversation with Abraham

Genesis 19:27–29

27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.

29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

God Remembered His Promise to Sarah

Genesis 20:17–21:2

21 Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.

God Remembered His Covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

Exodus 2:23–25

23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

Psalm 105:38–42

38 Egypt was glad when they left,

because dread of Israel had fallen on them.

39 He spread out a cloud as a covering,

and a fire to give light at night.

40 They asked, and he brought them quail

and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.

41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out;

like a river it flowed in the desert.

42 For he remembered his holy promise

given to his servant Abraham.

Covenants in the Bible are promises made by God. Solemn promises that are not entered into lightly.

What are some of the Covenants that God made with His people?

•Obedience: The Adamic Covenant (Gen. 2-3) Eat of every tree, but one.
•Judgment: The Noahic Covenant (Genesis 9:8–17) The Rainbow Promise – no more catastrophic worldwide flood.
•Faith: The Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 15:9–10, 18-21; 17:1-14; Romans 4) “The Just will live by Faith.”
•Law: The Mosaic Covenant – The Laws of God (Ex. 20:1-17; Deut. 6)
•Kingdom: The Davidic Covenant – A King Will Come (2 Sam. 7; Jeremiah 23:5–6; Isaiah 7:14; 9:6–7; Daniel 7:13–14; Rev. 19:11-16)
•The New Covenant: God’s Law in our Hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25; 2 Cor. 3:6; Hebrews 8-9; 12:24))

What happens when God promises something, but it does not seem that He is going to fulfill His promise?

Are there Examples in the Bible of God not seeming to fulfill His Promise?

•Abraham’s promised heir, Isaac. Born when Abraham was 100, and Sarah at 90 years of age. It seemed impossible for Abraham and Sarah to have a child; but, nothing is impossible with God. (Gen. 12:1-2; 18:1-15)

•The Pain of the Continuing Struggle between the Godless and the Righteous:

Psalm 10

1 Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?

Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,

who are caught in the schemes he devises.

3 He boasts of the cravings of his heart;

he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord.

4 In his pride the wicked does not seek him;

in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

11 He (the wicked) says to himself, “God has forgotten;

he covers his face and never sees.”

12 Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.

Do not forget the helpless.

13 Why does the wicked man revile God?

Why does he say to himself,

“He won’t call me to account”?

14 But you, O God, do see trouble and grief;

you consider it to take it in hand.

The victim commits himself to you;

you are the helper of the fatherless.

15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil man;

call him to account for his wickedness

that would not be found out.

16 The Lord is King for ever and ever;

the nations will perish from his land.

17 You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted;

you encourage them, and you listen to their cry….

The question may not be “Does the Lord Remember me?”;

but, rather “Does God Forget Me?”

“Has God Forgotten You?”

Or, yet, another question: “Have We Forgotten God?”

Some folks may feel God has forgotten them, when in reality, their forgetting God has caused God to bring them into their own personal discipline and Judgment.

Covenants can also be Conditional:

•“If you do this, then I will do this.”
•“If you do not do this, then this will be the outcome.”

Let’s look at this very sad passage in Jeremiah regarding the graphic discipline of God’s People who have forgotten Him.

Jeremiah 18:15 “My people have forgotten Me.”

Jeremiah 18:1–17

At the Potter’s House

18 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

11 “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ 12 But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”

13 Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“Inquire among the nations:

Who has ever heard anything like this?...

15 Yet my people have forgotten me…

16 Their land will be laid waste,

an object of lasting scorn;

all who pass by will be appalled

and will shake their heads.

17 Like a wind from the east,

I will scatter them before their enemies;

I will show them my back and not my face

in the day of their disaster.”

Jeremiah 13:24–25

24 “I will scatter you like chaff

driven by the desert wind.

25 This is your lot,

the portion I have decreed for you,”

declares the Lord,

“because you have forgotten me

and trusted in false gods.

Ezekiel 23:35

35 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Since you have forgotten me and thrust me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your lewdness and prostitution.”

It isn’t God who does the “forgetting” – We are the ones who “forget God.”

It seems, we tend to only remember God when we need something.

God Remembers Us. He is our All-Powerful Creator.

Luke 12:6–7

6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Isaiah 49:15–16

15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast

and have no compassion on the child she has borne?

Though she may forget,

I will not forget you!

16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

your walls are ever before me.

Hebrews 6:10

10 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.

How Do We Not Forget God in This Faithless and Godless World?

•Noah did not forget God in a godless world.
•Abraham did not forget God in a godless world.
•Joseph did not forget God when thrown in prison.
•The Early Christians did not forget God in vile persecution and martyrdom.
•Believers in Jesus Christ today do not have to forget God in a self-centered, digital world.

Remembering God in a Faithless World

•It is a personal walk.
•It is a practical walk.
•It is a prudent walk.
•It can be a secluded walk.
•It is a walk in reliance upon God, His Word, and the Presence and Guidance of the Holy Spirit.
•It will be a spiritually beneficial and eternally rewarding walk.

There has always been a palpable and substantial tension between the Godless world and those seeking to please God with their lives. God is very aware of both and His eyes are particularly attuned to those who love Him. This adversarial tension is recorded in many of the Psalms and is particularly observable in Psalm 37.

Psalm 37

Of David.

1 Do not fret because of evil men

or be envious of those who do wrong;

2 for like the grass they will soon wither,

like green plants they will soon die away.

3 Trust in the Lord and do good;

dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

4 Delight yourself in the Lord

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in him and he will do this:

6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,

the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;

do not fret when men succeed in their ways,

when they carry out their wicked schemes.

12 The wicked plot against the righteous

and gnash their teeth at them;

13 but the Lord laughs at the wicked,

for he knows their day is coming.

14 The wicked draw the sword

and bend the bow

to bring down the poor and needy,

to slay those whose ways are upright.

15 But their swords will pierce their own hearts,

and their bows will be broken.

18 The days of the blameless are known to the Lord,

and their inheritance will endure forever.

19 In times of disaster they will not wither;

in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.

20 But the wicked will perish:

The Lord’s enemies will be like the beauty of the fields,

they will vanish—vanish like smoke.

32 The wicked lie in wait for the righteous,

seeking their very lives;

33 but the Lord will not leave them in their power

or let them be condemned when brought to trial.

35 I have seen a wicked and ruthless man

flourishing like a green tree in its native soil,

36 but he soon passed away and was no more;

though I looked for him, he could not be found.

39 The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord;

he is their stronghold in time of trouble.

40 The Lord helps them and delivers them;

he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

because they take refuge in him.

Psalm 9:17

17(NKJV) The wicked shall be turned into hell (the realm of the dead),

And all the nations that forget God.

18 (NIV84) But the needy will not always be forgotten,

nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.

God cares for the Righteous. The wicked will be judged. Hold on to that Fact.

Are We Forgetting God?

•Are you anxious and worried about what might happen to you in the future?
•Are you concerned about what might be a gross heartache from the adverse circumstances you are experiencing right now?
•Are you afraid of the disaster or sickness that might be waiting for you just around the corner?
•Do you feel like God has forgotten you?

Are adverse personal circumstances driving us from God, or will they be a catalyst to draw us yet closer to God?

When We Start to Forget About God

When we tend to forget God we turn to worry, being anxious and increasingly fearful. Our hearts and minds begin to fill with concerns only about ourselves and our personal survival. We depend more and more on ourselves and surround ourselves with only those who “we can really trust.” We live to gratify ourselves more and more, always protecting ourselves… while drifting further away from trusting God, languishing further from the spiritual nourishment of God’s Word. We have a growing lack of inner peace, while diminishing in our faith in God, so we become even more anxious. We desperately try to “fix” things our way.

In a Nautical example, high winds on the “sea of life” may begin to pummel our drifting personal-sized “cargo ship,” which is piled high with everything we have been gathering for ourselves throughout life. We try to secure our vessel to any mooring we can see around us which we can hold on to – something we can physically wrap our arms around, though we may be still far from shore. In our desire for security, unknowingly, we may be slowly releasing the only stable but invisible cord of our faith in God, not realizing that the supposed stability we might seek around us is only temporal – that which will actually rust, decay and die, and the Spiritual Resource we may be releasing, is indeed, our only substantial and eternal hope. (2 Cor. 4:18)

What will it take for us to continue to Remember whose Children we are; and, if we are forgetting God, to Return in our heart, mind, and commitment to Him?

Does God Remember You?

•Does God Know Where You Are Right Now?
•Does God Know What You are Going Through?
•Has God Forgotten You?
•Will God Forget You?

God will not forget us.

Luke 12:6–7

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He will direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:5–6