God Remembers, How About Us?

You know, memory is something that I've sometimes been known to be challenged with. And I wonder, have any of you ever had a recurring dream or even a recurring nightmare? It comes up over and over again. I see some nodding heads. I used to say, no, I've never had that. And then I realized, well, yeah, I kind of have. The only thing is, it's recurring in the general theme, but not in the specifics. I've had this dream many times in very different settings.

And what happens is, I'm at some college, or sometimes even back at my high school, and through the course of my education I've been in a number of colleges. And at this point, it's either midterm time or final exam, and there's an exam scheduled for his class.

And it dawns on me that for weeks now, I've been forgetting to go to class. And it's not that I didn't know I registered, or that I had any excuse. I just, on a regular basis, totally forgot. And so in the dream, sometimes it gets even worse, because I'm determined, well, I can study enough, I'm going to go take the exam anyways. And so I'm racing around campus trying to find the room, but I can't remember where it is. I've even had it once where I was in my car going from building to building, and, oh, there is it!

I've got to get there! Oh, it's not scary so much, it's frustrating. And I once realized that the times in my life when I've had this dream are usually when I've been really busy. And I've just had so many things going on that I think it's my brain's way of telling me, you've got so much going on, you're probably forgetting something. And there's where I think those of you who know me, and a lot of this crowd don't know me that well, you would say, relax, Frank, you know you've forgotten something. You're always forgetting something.

And to be honest, I think that's something maybe I need to work on in my character in two different ways. One, I need to learn to not forget things, but also to stop getting so uptight when you have various things going on at once. That's something I learned when I went to work for the church, is that's the normal state of affairs. You always have several things going on at once. Well, how about you? I can't be the only one who forgets things, or who gets worried and frustrated when he does forget things. So, are you like some of us where you look for memory devices to help you learn things? Now, I've never taken music lessons, other than singing in a choir, but I've heard there's one called, Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge.

And that seems to work. I have no idea what it works for, except for the bad boys apparently don't get fudge. When I was working at summer camp, running the amazing race, I heard teenagers saying, Pup-Tattle, remember Pup-Tattle? I was like, what in the world is Pup-Tattle? Well, that's how you remember all the festivals. Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles, Last Great Day. Pup-Tattle, it's an acronym. Not bad. And of course, after that, though, we need to remind ourselves that once we do remember something, you have to follow through on the reason you are remembering.

Follow through on whatever it was that you made a commitment to. Is this especially important for Christians? Well, I think it is. Because there are a number of places in God's Word where it tells us, remember. God is very specific, remember. And we have a perfect example. Our Creator God has a pretty good memory. He doesn't forget. And He follows through every single time. And we know that God wants us to be like Him, so that must mean that to some degree, we need to learn to remember. We need to follow through.

It might be a simple obvious point, but it's one I thought we could spend a little time on. If a strong breeze blows up out here, it might not follow up on it for very long, but we'll see how that goes. So let's think of some examples of God following through on things He said He would do. Now, we could consider every prophecy He ever gave to be somewhat of a prophecy.

Let me say that again. Every prophecy to be somewhat of a promise to do something. And when the prophecy is fulfilled, then the promise is kept. But there are some examples of other times where God made a promise that wasn't so much prophecy, or it seemed, as Him making a commitment. And then we can see Him following through. The first one that came to my mind is, I was thinking of memory devices. And if you're like me, I've actually, literally, sometimes tied a string around my finger to remember.

Have any of you done that? It's this old thing, and it works. But the first example is one of the oldest children's stories. We're going to turn to Genesis in a little bit, but you know the story about how God created mankind, and things are going along, and they get off track. And within a few hundred, maybe a couple thousand years, God gets fed up with man's depravity and evil and wickedness. He decides He's got a clear amount. Start over again. Except one person, as it says in Genesis 6, verse 8, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

And we know that story, probably because we've read it so many times, that God instructed Noah, build an ark. Get some wood, build it 300 cubits, buy 80 cubits, buy 40 cubits.

Sorry, I'm thinking about the Bill Cosby routine, where Noah says, Right, what's a cubit? And then bring all the animals. Well, he did that. And then there was the worldwide flood. In Genesis 9, though, we find God revealing that He had decided to never repeat this particular act. If you will, turn with me to Genesis 9, and we'll begin reading in verse 11.

Genesis 9, verse 11, God says, So God promises. He makes a commitment. He'll never again use a flood to destroy all, or even almost, all life on earth. Now, I could mention, with our understanding of future prophecy, He doesn't promise that He won't use another means, like fire, to cleanse the earth. But God not only makes that commitment, He provides a memory device, the rainbow.

Things go just right. Maybe we'll get lucky enough today to see one without getting the rain on us. That's always when it's really nice. I think sometime this summer, after services at the home office, there was this beautiful rainbow that we weren't running out to look at.

I hadn't seen one that nice in quite a while. Let's drop down to verse 14. It will be that when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud. And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. The waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow will be in the cloud. I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that's on earth.

God said to Noah, this is the sign of the covenant which I've established between me and you and all flesh on earth. Again, it sounds kind of like God tying a string on his finger. Sometimes I have trouble thinking that God really needs a string around his finger. And he said it's for him to look at, but we can look at it too. How many times have you looked at a rainbow and remembered this story?

I do almost every single time. I think, oh yeah, that's why the rainbow is there. And it not only reminds us of it, it gives us this great opportunity to explain it to our kids. God made that promise to all mankind, and the follow-through is pretty self-evident. God has not drowned us all out ever since. He met his commitment. Now, that's an obvious one. Not only do we understand this, but pretty much everyone does. Everyone who proclaims to be Christian and reads the Bible knows the story.

It might be worth us looking at it one or two others that are a little bit less well-known. Where God has made a commitment and he's followed through. God made a special promise to King David that's affected not only King David and his descendants, but many people all around the world. We can find that starting in 2 Samuel 7. If you'll join me there.

2 Samuel 7. I didn't know I made a mistake, but I brought my new church Bible that's not falling apart, but it's got much smaller font than my notes. So, as usual, I'll be going back and forth here. Now, this is, I'll mention, David had expressed a desire to build a temple for God. The Ark of the Covenant had been in a tent all this time, and David knew that in other nations, those who worshipped false gods had built these elaborate temples for those idols. David wanted to build something nice for the true God as a symbol for him. So, we see this in 2 Samuel 7. Now it came to pass, when the king was dwelling in his house, the eternal had given him rest from all of his enemies all around. The king said to Nathan the prophet, See, now I dwell in a house of cedar, but the Ark of God dwells inside curtains. He's hinting, I want to build him a house. Nathan said to the king, Well, do all that's in your heart. The Lord is with you. No surprise, the prophet Nathan expected God to automatically go along with what David wanted. God had been blessing so much that David did, but in this case, Nathan was mistaken. God is going to show that he wanted to do things differently, as we see in verse 4. It happened that night that the word of the eternal came to Nathan, saying, Go tell my servant David, thus says the Lord, Would you build a house for me to dwell in? I have not dwelled in a house since the time I brought the children of Israel up from Egypt, even to this day, but moved around in a tent and in a tabernacle. Wherever I moved about with the children of Israel, did I ever speak a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel who I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, Why haven't you built me a house, a cedar? Which I can almost imagine God, Why haven't you built me a house? What's going on here, you lazy bums? No, God doesn't say that. So God didn't necessarily want a temple. Now, I'm going to skip ahead because this isn't my point, but God would reveal to David, as I think we know, that, Okay, David, I don't want you building it. You've been involved in too much war. Too much blood is on your hands. You're going to have a son, and he'll build a house for me. But God moves on to something else to tell David that, quite shocking to David. In verse 16, he says, In your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever. And David was astonished. Not so much that he didn't think to go talk to God and say, Well, thank you, and please go ahead and fulfill that promise. But he thought, I'm just talking about building a building. You've made a promise to keep my children on the throne in perpetuity. And God makes it very clear. It would only take a couple of generations before God would have to take special measures to follow through and keep his commitment. When Solomon, David's son who did build that temple, he got sort of off track. As the story goes, or tells us, he married many wives, and they turned his heart away from God, turned it to idolatry. If you'll join me in 2 Kings chapter 11, I'm sorry, 1 Kings chapter 11, we'll see that God reveals that the descendants of Solomon aren't going to be able to continue ruling over Israel, not all of Israel. 1 Kings 11, starting in verse 11.

Therefore, the Lord said to Solomon, Because you've done this and have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However, I will not tear away the whole kingdom. I'll give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I've chosen. God remembered that promise he'd made to David, and he was going to follow through. If we drop down to verse 34, that's a page turn away in my Bible, God continues to reveal how he'll do this. 1 Kings 11, 34 says, However, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, that is the son of Solomon, because I've made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes. But I'll take the kingdom out of his son's hand and give it to you, ten tribes. And to his son, I'll give one tribe, that my servant David may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city which I've chosen for myself to put my name there.

If we read on through the kings, books of kings and chronicles, we see that the northern kingdom, ten tribes, did separate. They continued the name Israel. They went through several dynasties. A king would rule, and maybe his son after him and his grandson, but after a while there'd be some uprising, a coup, and often the ruling family would be killed off, and someone else would come to the throne. And a generation or two later, that would happen again. So various families ruled in Israel, but Jerusalem and Judah was always ruled by a descendant of King David. God kept his promise. It's worth noting, the territory of Judah, the one tribe that was promised to David, if you look at various maps back then, that territory totally encompassed the area that belonged to Benjamin, that tribe, and so many of those who were Benjamites by tribe became considered Jews by nationality. So God promised one tribe, but actually he got two for the price of one. It's like he went into Kmart when there was a blue light special, and that one's not in my notes, so if you didn't laugh, that's okay. If you did, you've got a strange sense of humor like me. Anyways, we might also note that many in the kingdom of Judah were from the tribe of Levi, because the temple was there in Jerusalem. So many of the Levites who were devoted to service of the temple either already lived there or moved down from the northern kingdom. So there are a number of people today who consider themselves to be Jewish, who are probably of the tribe of Levi. One of the ways we see that probably is that Cohen is a common Jewish last name. Cohen is actually the Hebrew word that means priest. So we might wonder if a Jewish person is named Cohen, perhaps he's Jewish by nationality, but actually Levi by tribe. And that's getting a little aside, but I want to come back to that point in a moment. We know that God's promise to David will be fulfilled for eternity, because Jesus Christ was a direct descendant of King David. And when he returns to earth, he will take the throne of David, and he'll rule forever over not only the people of Israel, but all nations. Some people wonder, though, did God let his commitment lapse for some time when Jerusalem fell in 586 B.C.? What about those intervening years, between then and when Christ returns? Didn't God promise David would always have a descendant to sit on the throne? Did he forget that he let down his commitment? We believe he did not. And I know I'm not telling most of you something new. We think not partly because, well, what sort of God would he be if he just forgot and didn't do it? He'd be like me, forgetting to show up and take that midterm exam and then not being able to find the room.

But aside from trusting God to fulfill his Word, we see some hints in the Bible that let us know how he probably did it. We can see one of those in the book of Jeremiah in chapter 43. Jeremiah 43 and verse 5, this is a historical account of after Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians, and most of the people were taken into captivity.

But was he not all? And by the way, the king at that time was led in shackles off to Babylon, and he had his eyes put out. But not before they brought all of his sons before him and killed them. They wanted Zedekiah to know that none of his children would rule over Judah or the people of Israel, which in a sense would mean none of David's descendants would, except they missed something. Jeremiah 43 and verse 5 says, But Johann, the son of Korea, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, who had returned to dwell on the land of Judah from the nations where they had been driven. The people that weren't taken to Babylon. Men, women, children, the king's daughters, and every person who Nebu's Arad and the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah, the son of Ahichom, the son of Shaphan, don't you love these sons of? And Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Noriah. So they all went to the land of Egypt. For they did not obey the voice of the Lord, they went as far as Tapanese.

So although King Zedekiah's sons had all been killed, his daughters survived. We don't know how many of them. They went down to Egypt, where they were accompanied by various people, but also Jeremiah the prophet. Jeremiah had an interesting relationship with God. But by this time, Jeremiah is an older man, and he trusts God, and God trusts him. The Bible doesn't say what happens next, but there are many traditions, and there's legend that tells us that Jeremiah took those daughters of the king and traveled on beyond Egypt. And they went up through Spain and then journeyed to the island of Ireland, where the same legend says other descendants of Israel had already settled. And again, this is legend, but it's not one that's rare and unusual. And the story says that one of those king's daughters was a princess named Tietefi, who married into the royal line in Ireland, and they became the ruling family that continued for generations. And that royal line was then transferred later to Scotland, then in 16...it was 1604 or 1601. I shouldn't be asking you. That's something you should be able to ask me. But then it transferred from Scotland to England. And if this is true, and I personally believe it is, then Queen Elizabeth, representing the only continuously ruling royal family on our planet, is a direct descendant of King David. And if that is true, God has continued to follow through on that commitment that He made so long ago to King David. God remembers. God follows through.

That crosses my mind every now and then if I'm watching the news, and they talk about the royal travels, and there's little Prince George, the toddler, on TV. And I think of those kings' daughters that perhaps Jeremiah took with him all the way to Ireland. And you might be thinking, come on, Frank. That's a stretch. Can you really believe a legend like that? Are you stretching things to make it fit? Let's read something else in the book of Jeremiah to remind us of how seriously God took this promise. It's in chapter 33. Jeremiah 33 and verse 17.

I've always liked this passage. Jeremiah 33 and verse 17. We'll read several verses here. For thus says the Lord, David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne in the house of Israel, nor shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man to offer burnt offerings before me, to kindle grain offerings and sacrifice continually. And the word of the Eternal came to Jeremiah saying, Thus says the Eternal, If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, then my covenant may be broken with David my servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me.

That's pretty powerful! God is taking that commitment seriously. He says, Not only is David going to have a descendant to rule, I'm going to make his descendants very numerous. I'm going to make them like the sand of the sea. And notice he includes a memory device here. The rainbow is a pretty evident reminder of God's promise to Noah. Here he says, Did the sun come up this morning? Then my promise to David stands. The sun go down at night? That's a reminder. As long as the sun comes up and the sun goes down, God is remembering his promise to King David. And did you notice that apparently God is also following through on a promise that's a little bit lesser known to the descendants of Levi. I'm not going to go back in the Pentateuch to go through the story of how the tribe of Levi became dedicated to service of the temple. But God did separate them. They served in that tabernacle that went through the wilderness, and then later in the temple.

That one family, Levi, it included Aaron and his descendants who were the priests. Without turning there, I'll mention in Numbers 25, God promised Phineas, Aaron's grandson, that his descendants would always have the office of the priesthood.

Now, that might bring some consternation or even some doubt about whether or not God really does remember and fulfill his commitments every time. Because after all, even though we've got a fire over there, nobody's slaughtering a bowl to offer on it. At least not that I know of. I thought we were having hot dogs later.

When the temple was destroyed, the last temple in 70 AD, the sacrifice stopped. As a matter of fact, the book of Hebrews exists largely to prepare Christians for that eventuality, to remind us that those were symbolic of something higher, and that those sacrifices are no longer necessary. They always were symbolic of the one sacrifice that did matter, that of Jesus Christ. If you will, look at Hebrews 7, verse 26.

Hebrews 7.

Hebrews 7, verse 26. Such a high priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, and undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens. That high priest is Jesus Christ. He not only will become king, sitting on the throne of David, but also high priest. But not of the Levitical priesthood. He was a Jew. He wasn't from the tribe of Levi. If you turn a page back to, within the same chapter, Hebrews 7, but in verse 12, it says, For the priesthood being changed, changed from the order of Aaron to the order of Melchizedek, as this book shows, the priesthood being changed of necessity, there's also a change of the law. For he of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no man officiated at the altar. It's evident our Lord arose from Judah, of which Moses spoke nothing concerning the priesthood. And it is yet far more evident, if in the likeness of Melchizedek there arises another priest, who has come not according to the law of fleshly commandments, but according to the power of an endless life. Okay. Jesus Christ is now our high priest, after the order of Melchizedek. And we believe, actually, that was the original order, because Melchizedek far predated the establishment of Aaron's priesthood. But what about that promise that the Levites would continue, and that they would always have someone to offer sacrifice? Did God fail to fulfill that commitment? Did he forget? Well, let's remember, we just read that the changing of the priesthood necessitated a change of the law. We refer to this chapter many times, when we explain that there is a change in how we tithe. Of course, in the Old Testament, tithes were paid to the tribe of Levi to help them do the work of God, and that helped them to have animals to sacrifice, and things like that. But now, that tithing has not been eliminated, but tithing has been transferred to God's church to support the work He's doing today. So we still tithe, but we do so in a different way.

Can we find scriptures to show that we still sacrifice, but sacrifice in a different way?

I think several of you know that we can. The first one I'll look at is here in Hebrews also. Hebrews 13, in verse 15, tells us, Therefore, by Him, referring to Jesus Christ, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God. Sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

Praise is a sacrifice to God. I won't turn back to the Old Testament right now, but I'll remind you that Psalm 51, verse 17, tells us that the sacrifices of God are a broken and a contrite heart. We sing Psalm 51 many times, especially on the Passover. But I would like to turn to 1 Peter. We're near there now. 1 Peter 2, 2 Peter 2, verse 5. It relates to this idea of a priesthood and sacrifices. Peter wrote, You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. Who's a holy priesthood? You, the people in this pavilion, are being called to be a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. So sacrifice hasn't stopped, but instead of draining the blood out of animals, we're to offer spiritual sacrifice. While we're here, we might note down in verse 9 of this chapter, You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. I won't turn there, but we could add what it says in Revelation 8, verse 4, where the smoke of incense with the prayers of saints ascends before God. I take this to mean that, as I said, there's no need for us to burn the fat of animals or to burn incense on an altar, but our prayers, our praise, our songs to God, our spiritual sacrifices, those whom God has called into His church, the body of Christ, are called to be a royal priesthood. I would say, after the order of Melchizedek, perhaps if Jesus Christ is that high priest, we could be seen to be serving in the role of spiritual Levites. Now, that's just an analogy, so don't tell anyone I'm introducing a new doctrine.

But you might say, yeah, but what about the physical Levites? Didn't God make a commitment? Remember, the sun came up this morning, the sun went down, and Jeremiah 33, God promised as long as the sun rises and sets, the Levites would never lack a man to serve Him and offer sacrifice.

Does God follow through on those commitments? Well, one thing I would say, it doesn't say that no one else would ever also offer sacrifice, but here's where I'd like to make a speculation that's something I can't prove, but I'm pretty confident that at least one person in God's church today is a Levite, physically. As a matter of fact, I would guess perhaps many more than one. If we think back, and I'm not going to turn to Genesis 49, but at the end of Jacob's life, Jacob, who God changed his name to Israel, he gathered his twelve sons together and he said, let me tell you what's going to happen to you in the last days. And of two tribes, he said, they would be scattered throughout Israel. They wouldn't have a homeland. They wouldn't be a separate nation. One of those was Simeon. The other was Levi. Levi ended up being scattered through Israel, not only in the end days, but in ancient Israel. They were given various towns throughout Israel, but not their own territory. But that means that now, wherever there are Israelites, there are Levites. If there are a number of people who are Jewish, or who think they're Jewish, but are actually Benjamites or Levites, I think it's safe to say that there are probably a good many people who are Americans, Brits, Canadians, Australians, South Africans, and so on, who are descended from the tribe of Levi.

I mentioned that Cohen is a common Jewish name that means priest, and that many of those Jews might be Levites. This is another thing that's probably just a weird coincidence, but when I used to go serve at the summer camp, we had it in Britain, in Scotland. I worked alongside a family in the church whose last name was Templeman.

And I always thought, Templeman? Hmm. I wonder if there could be any connection. If they were actually Levites and that name had been passed down, wouldn't that be something? Right. And in any event, it doesn't matter. We don't have to know who is and who is not descended from Levi. The point is, they do survive. God never forgets. He always follows through on His commitments. So I trust that He has done so today. There may well be some of us under this pavilion today who are Levites, which doesn't matter as long as at least one somewhere is who is offering that spiritual sacrifice.

As I said, God remembered, and He kept that promise that He made back in Jeremiah 33. I'm ready to change gears, though, because we've been seeing that God sometimes makes some long-term commitments. He makes them, and He follows through on them. We have evidence God remembers. He follows through. How about us? Can we remember? Can we follow through? Perhaps before I discuss some memory devices that could help us, I should ask, well, what does God want us to remember?

I mean, I need to remember where I put my keys or I can't go home, but that's not a very spiritual matter. Well, the Bible tells us some things to remember. Not to put too fine a point on it. The first thing we could say is God wants us to remember Him. Anyone that attended summer camp, was it summer before last? You might remember Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 1. It's a common memory scripture in the church.

Ecclesiastes 12.1 says, Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth. Remember your Creator. Don't forget Him. I will suggest we turn to Psalm 77, because I said it's worth us looking to see what God and His Word tells us to remember. Psalm 77 beginning in verse 11. This new Bible, I can't get the pages to turn. Okay. Maybe I don't have a Psalm 77. Oh, there it is. Psalm 77.11, I will remember the works of the Eternal. Surely I'll remember your wonders of old.

I will also meditate on all your work and talk of your deeds. Beyond just remembering that God exists, it's good to remember the things that He's done and talk about those things. Unfortunate, that's really a large part of my job, so I get paid to do that.

But it's a cool thing to do. Study His Word. Let's go one further. If we turn back to Deuteronomy 8, verse 11. Deuteronomy 8, verse 11, Moses is recounting the law to the children of Israel before they're about to enter the Promised Land. He reminds them of many things they've heard and been told and put some in different words. He tells them here, Be aware that you do not forget the Lord your God.

How? By not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes, which I command you today. Here, He's not just saying it's a good idea to remember. He's saying, we're commanded to do it. I'm commanding you to remember. And one way that we remember God is by keeping His commandments. Not only the commandments to remember, but the commandments of how to live, what to do. To remember God, we worship God, and we obey Him. Now, you could say, well, that's not such a tall order.

I think I can remember that. We can remember God by obeying His commandments. And then part of me says, well, what if I forget what the commandments are? Well, we're told not to. I thought that was interesting the way King David wrote Psalm 119. If you'll turn with me there, I want to look at several places there where he makes a point about remembering God's commandments.

Psalm 119, we'll start all the way in verse 83, and then we'll work to the back from there. I always laugh when I see how many verses there are in Psalm 119. Psalm 119, verse 83, he says, I've become like a wineskin in smoke. Actually, I wanted the last part of the verse. I'm not sure about what a wineskin does in smoke. But he says, yet I do not forget your statutes. I don't forget your statutes. Turn the page and look at verse 109, if you will. Psalm 119, 109, my life is continually in my hand, yet I do not forget your law.

So first he's not forgetting the statutes. David's not forgetting the law. Across the page in verse 141, I'm small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts. So we've got statutes, laws, and precepts, and David's not forgetting them. And we'll look at one more towards the end. In verse 176, we'll see how he wraps up this longest chapter in the Bible, this very elaborately written psalm. He says, I've gone astray like lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments. I don't forget your statutes. I don't forget your law. I don't forget your precepts. I don't forget your commandments.

We better remember God's law and all the statutes, precepts, and judgments. And then I think, well, I could ask you, is your memory that good? Have you memorized the law? Mine isn't. I can't remember to go to class sometimes. Luckily, where I work now, I can't miss the classroom. God knows our memories are limited. He doesn't expect us to memorize the Bible, so He did what I always do when I have to remember something. Write it down. God wrote it down for us. In Exodus 31, verse 18, it says, After God made an end of speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, He handed him something, the written version.

And to make sure it lasted, He wrote it on two tables of stone. Here's the Ten Commandments. You'll probably remember that whole thing about me shouting them from the top of the mountain. Actually, I don't know if God was shouting. His voice is just so powerful that it sounded like it. He wrote it down. Now, Moses later got angry enough that he broke those two tablets when he saw the golden calf. And what did God do? He said, Carve out a couple of new tablets and bring them up.

I'll write on those. But I want you to have that written copy. And of course, then, God told Moses, not just the Ten Commandments, it's all the law. I will turn to Deuteronomy 31. Deuteronomy 31 and verse 9, we'll see having the law written mattered to God because He didn't want Israel to forget. No excuse for forgetting. Deuteronomy 31 verse 9, The Lord your God will make you... Oh, that's verse 30. Chapter 30. Let me go to the correct chapter. I've got to get this Bible broken in.

There we go. When all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which he chooses... This is talking about the Feast of Tabernacles, by the way. You shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Actually, I wanted to start in verse 9, but that's where we finished. If you look up a little bit in verse 9, Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bore the ark.

And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time, in the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles, when all Israel comes before you, read the law in their hearing. Why? Well, that was a time when most people weren't wealthy enough to own their own copy of what's here. Writing had to be done by hand. It was very laborious, and expensive, and fragile. Most people couldn't afford to own their own copy, so God said, Every seven years, get together and listen while someone reads it to you.

The law was also written down in another way that we don't think of as often, that was very public. If you turn back a couple pages to chapter 27 in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 27, beginning in verse 5. I've always found this kind of interesting. God's talking about after they've crossed the Jordan River, He says, There you'll build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones.

Don't use an iron tool on them. You'll build with whole stones the altar of the Lord your God, and offer burnt offerings on it, and peace offerings. And in verse 8, And you shall write very plainly on the stones all the word of this law. So you have this altar, and He says, Write legibly so everybody can read it all the words of the law. That's interesting. In a very public place where someone could come anytime and read it there.

And I'm not going to turn there, but you could make a note in Joshua chapter 8, verses 30 to 32. It shows that Joshua followed through on this command. They wrote it out like that. And we think, the written law is a powerful reminder. Add to that, hearing it regularly. Now sometimes you might wonder, Well, should we be reading the law out loud at the feast every seventh year?

Well, we don't see that as a command that we are required to obey. It was part of the civil or ritual law for ancient Israel at that time. We've got something better. You've got it sitting on your laps, most of you. You don't have to travel to the Feast of Tabernacles to have access to God's Word. You've got access to it every day. And I think we should read it every day.

And in addition, we do come together at times like this, and some guy like me, he gets up here and reads from it, and tries to expound what it means. There's another interesting thing that God planned for ancient Israel while we're in Deuteronomy. If you turn back to chapter 17, Deuteronomy 17 and verse 15, God was anticipating a time when they would have a different form of government.

He says, You shall surely set up a king over you, whom the Lord your God chooses, one from among your brethren you'll set up. You can't set up a foreigner. And down in verse 18 it said, It also shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one that's before the priests and the Levites.

So, tell this king to borrow that. It's like, go to the lending library, bring it home, and get you a notebook, and start writing. Write a copy. And in verse 19 it says, It will be with him, and he'll read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord is God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes. That's something pretty powerful. God wanted the kings to know, to remember his law and how to govern.

Fortunately for us, we don't have to hand write our own copy to have one. You know, we can get them. I think I got this one online for like $7. I would have got a bigger print one if I'd have been thinking of it. But you can get it, most of you, on your phones, right? We have many different translations. We have it. We should read in it all the days of our life, like the kings were commanded to.

That's why we encourage daily Bible study. Think of that. How many other books do you read every day? I've got shelves of books at home that I've read once. And I keep them because they're nice decorations. Or, you know, sometimes I borrow a book from the library, read it, and then turn it back in. You don't need to go back and read it. But this is a memory device of something we need to remember. And we need to follow through.

We read God's law. And we remember God's law. When we do God's law, it helps us to remember God. There is a slight problem, though. And I'm saying we, but let's look at the example we have. Ancient Israel did have God's law. It was written down. It was read to them. They had it written on stones in the altar. The king supposedly had his own copy. But what did they do? They forgot. They forgot the Lord their God. Periodically, they would drift away. They disobeyed and broke their covenant with God. Having the written word, it seems, is not enough.

We do have to have it. I do encourage us to read it. But we need more. We need more. A better memory device. And you know what? We have it. We've got the best one. Actually, we've got more than one. Let's read. If you'll turn to Hebrews 8.

The reason I'm saying that, I see there's a couple of different places where what I'm going to read is in the Bible. Because Hebrews 8 is actually a quote of what is written in Jeremiah 31. Hebrews 8 and verse 10 says, This is the covenant that I'll make with the house of Israel after those days. So after they've been taken into captivity and learned their lesson, looking ahead when God's Spirit is available.

This is the covenant I'll make with them in those days. I will put my laws in their mind. Write them in their hearts, on their hearts. I'll be their God and they'll be my people. Over in chapter 10, verse 16, it repeats this. Because it repeats it, we don't need to read it. But I often like to make the point that this doesn't mean that God's going to perform surgery. He's not going to crack open our skulls or our ribcage and get out a sharpie and start writing his law on our brains and on our hearts.

That's a metaphor for the way that God does touch our minds. And Jesus Christ explained it to the disciples the last night that he was with them in John 14. John 14 and verse 26. It's a well-known Scripture that I'll read to you if I can get my Bible to open to it. John 14, 26, he says, The Helper, the Holy Spirit, which the Father will send in my name, it will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all the things that I said to you.

The Holy Spirit gives us a better memory. And you know what I say to that? Hallelujah! Because I've got a terrible memory. I can't remember all kinds of stuff. So as a forgetful person, I rejoice that God has given us the best memory device we could ever ask for. He's given us His very essence to help us to remember.

The Holy Spirit might help me to remember where I put my car keys, help me remember where I parked my car, where to go to take that exam. But the most important thing it's ever going to help me to remember is God's law, to remember to live God's way, honor and obey Him. What a terrific memory device! The fabulous thing is that the Holy Spirit also enables us to do the follow-through. I don't do that in class too often. We not only remember, but it gives us the power to do what God's Word tells us to do.

Because we saw that we have to do more than know God's law. The Bible says that the demons know that God exists and they tremble, but they don't follow through. They don't obey. But we can, with the power of God's Spirit in us. And God's Spirit is here in us. Right here today, in this place, God's Spirit is working in us so we can obey Him.

Philippians 4.13 says, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. I could talk at length about how the Holy Spirit works in us. And we do so in sermons on a regular basis. For now, I think it's worth remembering another memory device that God gives us. That works with the Holy Spirit. Education scholars have discussed and discovered how the way the human brain works.

They say, we remember some of what we hear. We remember more of what we see. But we remember the most of what we do. For us to really remember something, doing it is most effective. And God gives us a commandment of some things to do. And specifically, to conduct ourselves differently on certain days of the year. Remember, that fourth commandment says, remember the Sabbath day. To keep it holy. And it's funny because we're commanded to remember it, but what's the surest way to remember? To keep it holy.

It's a memory device. Once a week, we remember that we have a Creator God who tells us what to do. And so, we've got a reminder over and over again, on a weekly basis, that we're called out. That we have a special destiny, a purpose, that God is working in us. And then there's more than that. In Leviticus 23, we see a chapter devoted to telling us that there are some annual days.

That once a year, we come together and we treat us different. We've learned from studying God's Word and putting the different pieces together that those annual days represent an overarching plan that God has for mankind for all time. That's amazing to think that in an annual calendar of special days, we have a reminder.

I think I'm being serenaded by birdies. Think of this. God could have just told us His plan and left it at that. But He wanted us to do something to remember. He could have told us, keep the Holy Days once each generation. You know, there's a thing called a Jubilee year that was in Leviticus that says, Once every 50 years, you do this special thing. Why didn't He make the Holy Days that way? Well, probably the same reason we don't read this book and then put it on the shelf and say, I'm done with that. We keep these special days every year over and over again. And over and over again, we hear sermons telling us why we keep these days over and over again.

And in the process, we remember and we follow through. We're being like our Creator God. He wants us to be like Him. He remembers. He follows through. And He wants us to do that. So in the Holy Days, in the Sabbath, there's a self-feeding cycle. As we remember, we follow through and obey Him.

And the process of doing that helps us to always remember. And the obedience itself builds our memories. And that's good. I've got a note here saying, So, Frank, you don't have to keep talking and explain the meaning of the Holy Days. That's what we do on the Holy Days. And I thought that was a good thing to mention, as in two days, we're going to gather together. Most of us will be going up by, believe it, is it Mandalay Bay?

Mandalay... Isn't that a casino in Vegas? We're not going to Vegas. We're going to Dayton. But we're embarking in the second half of the Holy Day season. The fall Holy Days specifically reminds us of this just amazing part of God's plan. And that we have a part in it, and so does everyone that ever lived. I'm glad to say I've never had a recurring dream where I forgot to keep the Sabbath. And that makes me happy. I think that'd be worse than forgetting to go to a class or an exam. It should be hard for us to forget God's commands.

God sets us a good example of always remembering, always following through on His commitments. And by the way, if I wanted to make this longer, I could have looked at a set of commitments that He makes to us. That's something worth a study. If God follows through that diligently on His promise to David, how diligently will He follow through on the promises to us? We worship God who has a good memory, and He honors His commitments. As we grow to be like Him, we can use those memory devices that He's provided. He's given us this, His written Word.

He's given us a weekly Sabbath and annual Holy Days. And most of all, He's given us His very Spirit to dwell in us so that we can remember and we can follow through.