God’s Memorial Of His People

God's Memorial Of His People

(No. 3441)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 1915.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Behold I have engraved you upon the palms of My hands." Isaiah 49:16.

A LITTLE more than eight years ago, I remember addressing you from
these very words. You will find the sermon in

the printed series [See Sermon #512, Volume 9–A PRECIOUS DROP OF
HONEY.]

But such a text as this is to be preached hundreds of times! It is
quite impossible to exhaust it, and if we should run over the same
circle of thought in some measure, the thought suggested is of itself
so precious, it were well to have our pure minds stirred up by way of
remembrance.

The apprehension that God might forget us would be very horrible to a
child of God. As to the ungodly, they care not whether God thinks of
them or not. He is nothing to them and they care not whether they are
anything to Him. To the Christian, it is far otherwise. He could
imagine no greater calamity than for him to be forgotten of his God. He
knows there are many reasons in him why he shouldbe forgotten, and
though those reasons are all met by the promises of God, yet there are
times when those reasons exercise great effect upon his mind. As, for
instance, the Christian knows how insignificant he is. It is always a
wonder to him that God did ever think of him. Like David, when he
considers the heavens, the works of God's fingers, the moon and the
stars which God has ordained, he says, "What is man that You are
mindful of him, or the son of man that You visit him?" The ungodly man
has large ideas of himself, but the Christian has very humbling notions
of his own condition and he marvels, therefore, that God ever should
have remembered him–and he fears, sometimes, lest he should be
forgotten. So, too, the Christian is aware of his own unworthiness. He
knows something of his natural depravity. He remembers somewhat of
things done in his youth, his former transgressions–he sees that even
now he is not clear from sin in his daily life–and he says within
himself at times, "If the Lord were to deal with me according to my
desert, He would certainly appoint me a portion with the unbeliever,
discountenance me and cast me away." Yes, and when he thinks of his
unthankfulness to God for His many mercies, and remembers what a sting
there is in ingratitude, and how it cuts sharp the person who is
wronged by it, he sometimes wonders that God has not turned against His
ungrateful servant and said, "You are not mindful of My goodness. You
make such a slight return for it, that I will henceforth no more
remember you! The streams of My mercy shall be dried up and the
sunlight of My favor shall be taken away forever." Oh, what would we do
if God did forget us for any of these reasons, my Brothers and Sisters?
We could bear, it might be, to be forgotten by the dearest heart that
beats in the fondest bosom of our nearest relative– bitter, indeed,
would be such an affliction, to find a Judas where we hoped we had a
friend–but let all creature friendships go sooner than God should
forget us! It would be a calamity if death should visit our
habitations, or if sickness should come and lay us low, if some
calamity should strip us of our earthly comforts. But let them all go
without reservation, let us be reduced to Job's extremity and sit upon
a dunghill and scrape ourselves with a potsherd, sooner than God should
forget us! That were Hell itself! Oh, may we rejoice in heart by faith
that this calamity cannot occur to us! And let this text help to remove
any fear that any Believer here has ever had, that he may be forgotten
of God! The text was meant to meet that case, for so it runs, "Can a
woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion upon
the son of her womb? Yes, they may forget, yet will I not forget you."
And here is the reason given, "I have engraved you upon the palms of My
hands."

We come, therefore, Brothers and Sisters, by the help of God's Spirit,
to consider this Divine Memorial– 'I have engraved you on the palms of
My hands." Then very briefly let us trace out the result of this
memorial of God. And let us

close with a personal reflection upon the object of this Divine
Remembrance–"I have engraved YOU upon the palms of My hands."

I. THE DIVINE MEMORIAL.

We have here a metaphorical speech to set forth the impossibility of
God's forgetting us. "I have engraved you upon the palms of My hands."
I will give a catchword to each particular explanation of this
metaphor. The first word is present When we have a thing fresh in our
minds and we need to make others know that we have it close to our
memory, we say we have it at our fingertips. I say to such an one, "I
shall not forget you. I constantly remember you. Your name, your
business and your circumstances are at my fingertips." Everyone
understands what is meant by the expression. It is a present memorial,
but the figure of speech here used is more beautiful than that. "I have
you as near to Me as if I had you always in the palms of My hands."
That by which I remember you is most near to Me. A dear friend told me
that when travelling in the East, he frequently saw persons who had the
portraits of their friends printed on the palms of their hands. I said
to him, But did not they wear out?" Yes, sometimes," he said, but very
frequently they were tattooed, marked right into the hand, and then, as
long as the hand was there, there was the image of the friend, roughly
drawn, of course." Oriental art is not very perfect, but there it was,
drawn on the palms of the hands, so that it could be always seen. A
person had never to say, "Run and fetch the portrait. Run and bring me
the memorial"–he always had it present with him! So the Lord Jesus
always has His people present with him at all times. He is the Head,
they are the members. The members are never far off from the Head. He
is the Shepherd, they are the sheep and the careful shepherd, in time
of danger, is never far from his sheep. Christ is not far from any of
His people and, therefore, His recollections of them are not difficult
to be maintained. He keeps the memorial of them in His hands present
with Him. There is no fear, therefore, that He will forget them.

The next thought that arises from the metaphor may be remembered by the
catchword of permanent. As I have already said, the impression made
upon the hands, as intended in this figure, was permanent–so long as
the person lived, there it was. You engrave your friend's name upon a
sapphire and you may lose it. You may write it upon a rock and the rock
may crumble. You may get to yourself the most precious and lasting form
of matter and stamp the impression of your friend upon it, and
by-and-by it may fade away. But when Christ says that He writes His
people's names upon His hands, unless He, Himself, can perish, their
memorial must abide as long as Jesus lives, He must bear with Him the
memories of His people. It is inconceivable that Christ should be
without a hand–and what is deeply engraved on those palms, never to be
erased, must abide near to Him forever and forever! Oh, think,
Christian, you are never forgotten by God! Never in your darkest night
of sorrow, never in your most wayward moment of personal doubt and
wandering, never forgotten–and you never shall be! If you live to the
decrepitude of old age, He will bear and carry you! If you lie long
upon a lonely pallet, where few shall observe your suffering, He will
not forget you! If you are drifted to some remote part of the world,
far from all you love, He will be just as near. Time shall roll on and
come to its close, but Christ will not forget you, then, and in the
eternity that comes amidst the burning of the world and the judging of
mankind, the engraving on His hands shall be as permanent as ever! You
shall still be remembered of the Lord, who loved you before the earth
was! Present and permanent, then, is the memorial which Christ
cherishes of His people. We have lately seen an unusual number of
rainbows and I must confess that nothing gives me greater joy than to
see a rainbow. It is the memorial of the Covenant. I like to look upon
it. But there is something more cherishing to me than looking on it
myself–it is the thought of that text where God says, "The bow shall
be in the clouds and I will look upon it that I may remember the
everlasting covenant." It comforts me that I can look on the sign of
God's faithfulness, but it comforts me much more that God looks at
it–that His eyes are on it! Had I been an Israelite, I think it would
have given me much pleasure to see the blood sprinkled on the lintel
and the two side posts of my house. I would have known I was secure.
But there is something better than that. You remember the text, "When I
see the blood, I will pass over you." It is God's sight of the blood
that saved you! So here it is Christ that looks at the palms of His own
hands–that sees the memorial–always looks there and has not to look
far, for His hands are not far removed from Himself–they are part of
Himself. It is on Himself He bears the memory–the permanent memory of
all whom He has bought with blood! Therefore, be you comforted, and
think not that you are overlooked.

The third word shall be personal–present, perpetual, and personal. I
have engraved you not in the Book of Record, but I have engraved you
upon Myself, upon the palms of My hands." It means this–I will put it
in one short,

compact sentence–that Christ could as soon forget Himself us He could
forget His people! He has stamped them into Himself! Yes, more–He has
taken them into such vital, indelible union with His own Person, that
to forget one soul that He has bought with blood would be to forget
Himself! The mother does not forget her child because there is an
intimate connection between them. The head cannot forget the members
because there is a still more intimate connection there. My finger does
not need to tell my head that it suffers, and when a limb is full of
pain and agony, it does not need to send express messengers up to the
brain to say to the head, "Think of me, for I am full of grief." No,
the head feels that the limb is a part of itself, knit to itself! And
Christ has a personal interest and a personal union with all His
people. Oh, precious thought! You are dearer to Christ than any
treasure could be to Him because you are of His flesh and of His bones.
This is the reason–this is one reason that is given in Scripture–for
conjugal love, because the woman was taken out of the man, and she is
bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh–and when our blessed Second
Adam fell asleep in death, God took His Church out of His side, and the
Church is bone of Christ's bone and flesh of His flesh. He cannot
forget her! He looks upon her with a love that can never change and can
never be indifferent.

The next word I shall give you after this one of personal is painful. I
have engraved you on the palms of My hands." I may be permitted to
illustrate this by our Savior's hands. What are these wounds in Your
hands, these sacred stigmata, these ensigns of suffering? The
engraver's tool was the nail, backed by the hammer. He must be fastened
to the Cross, that His people might be truly engraved on the palms of
His hands. There is much consolation here. We know that what a man has
won with great pain, he will keep with great tenacity. Old Jacob valued
much that portion which he took out of the hand of the Amorite with the
sword and with the bow, and so truly does Christ value that which He
has conquered at great expense! Child of God, you cost Christ too much
for Him to forget you! He recollects every pang He suffered in
Gethsemane, and every groan that He uttered for you upon the Cross. The
engraving upon His hands brings to His recollection the redemption
price which He paid down that you might be set free! Oh, what better
ground can you have for believing that Christ remembers you than
this–that He loved you and gave Himself for you? Treasure up that
thought.

The other word is practical. "I have engraved you upon the palms of My
hands." As much as if God would say, "I can do nothing without
remembering My people." If He creates the world, it is with the hand
that has His people engraved on it. If He puts forth His hand to uphold
all things, that upholding hand upholds His saints. With His left hand
He smites the wicked. But He cannot smite His people, for He sees them
in the palm of that very hand! All that God does has an eye to His
people. When He divided the nations, He divided them according to the
number of the children of Israel. The world stands for their sake–'tis
but a stage for the display of His Grace to them. And when the number
of His elect is accomplished, He will take it all down and put it away.
O child of God, the Lord has given you the richest consolation when He
tells you He can do nothing without remembering you, for on the hand
with which He works, He has stamped your name! Note before I leave
this, that it does not say, "I have engraved you on the palm of My
hand," but "on the palms of My hands," as if there was a double
memorial before the Lord forever. With His right hand He blesses, and
His people have a share in that. With His left hand He deals out
vengeance, but He sees His people there, and gives no vengeance to
them. "His left hand," the hand of His angry power, "is under my head,"
says the spouse, "and His right hand, the hand of His beneficent love,
does embrace me." A left-handed or a right-handed God, He altogether
loves us and remembers us on the right hand and on the left. By both
His hands, by all His power, He pledges Himself never to forget one of
His saints! Oh, this is a rich text! And we trust we shall so handle it
as to bring out the juice from the luscious sentences, throw it in the
winepress and tread it again and again with active feet–and it shall
always yield fresh sweetness–and give forth yet more and more luscious
draughts to slake your thirst, if you know but how to use it. Dear,
abiding, precious memorial of our crucified Lord, you do charm away our
fears! He never can forget us. And now, briefly, not for lack of
matter, but for lack of time–

II. WHAT WILL BE THE RESULT OF OUR BEING THUS DAILY REMEMBERED?

Children of God, God remembers you to make you joyful. How runs the
text? "Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth." The Lord, who thinks
of you, will sometimes give you heydays and holidays. You shall not
always be in the dark. Do you recollect how John Bunyan describes it,
that after Giant Despair's head had been cut off, Mr. Ready-to-Halt,
Miss Much-Afraid and Miss Despondency, all of them, had a feast? And
they had a dance, too, and Mr. Ready-to-Halt leaped on his crutches!
The very weakest and most limping among God's saints sometimes have
their seasons of joys and

rejoicing, and so shall you! You daughters of depression, you sons of
sorrow, God has engraved you upon the palms of His hands! You have had
your evenings, you shall have your mornings–you have had your
droughts, you shall have your floods. If God remembers us, we may rest
assured that He will provide for all our needs. If the shepherd
remembers the sheep, the sheep shall not starve. If the farmer
remembers the plant, it will be cared for. God, who is the Great
Farmer, remembering the plants of His garden, says, I will water them
every moment." If the mother remembers her baby, it is to give it all
it needs and lull its griefs to rest. God will give us all we need.
Sons of need, you who feel your need, be of good comfort–you are
engraved on the palms of Jehovah's hands! We shall not want any good
thing if He remembers us, so let us reflect that we shall get chastened
some time. A child forgotten of its parent, never feels the rod. I have
been comforted sometimes when I have been smarting, to think I was not
quite cast off. The goldsmith will not put a common stone into the
furnace–he sets some value on that which he spends his coals upon. If
the Lord afflicts you, O heir of Heaven, He has not cast you away, be
sure of that! The refining that you are undergoing proves that He sets
a price upon you. He has taken trouble and care with you. By the
furnace, maybe, He will deliver you from your dross and your sin. Oh,
to be remembered, even if it is with a blow, is better than to be
forgotten and to be left to riot in this world's pleasures! Let me be,
my God, only able to know I am Yours by Your rod, sooner than have to
live in doubt and fear as to whether I am Yours or not. If God thus
remembers us, and we get chastened, we may also know that we shall have
consolation in chastening and be delivered in due time out of the
trial. If you are engraved on the palms of God' s hands, though you
should have to lie long and pine on that couch of suffering, He will
not forget you!

Oh, my dear young Friends, whose pale faces often grieve me when I see
you sad, let us look up to God for comfort! Though you are marked for
death, He does not forget you! He will cheer those days of growing
weakness, and as you get nearer to the grave, you will also get nearer
to Heaven! Many a poor woman lying in a lone cottage, or dying in a
workhouse, has had more joy than some of the princes of earth in all
their wealth and pride. Christ never leaves those who are His in the
world, but to them He reveals Himself more sweetly than to others! I
would like to say to every child of God here, because God remembers
you, all that you lose between here and Heaven, He will be sure to give
you. All you ask for that is right, you shall have, and a great deal
you never thought of asking for! You shall have as much sweet and as
much bitter. You shall have as much of everything that is good for you,
as shall be best, and afterwards you shall have the fullness, you shall
have the glory, for, being engraved on the palms of God's hands, He
will not forget to bring you home to the place where He is and to
appoint you a mansion among His chosen! I wish I could speak more at
large on this, but we have hurried over it. Only take it home–chew the
cud upon this. It is worth it. Here are subjects for meditation that
any thoughtful mind may bring out. If God remembers me, it is all I
need. You know that verse we sometimes sing that ends, "This my Father
knows; this my Father knows." Oh, yes, your needs, He sees them all!
Your heavenly Father knows that you have need of these things. There is
nothing more required to comfort your hearts. If He knows it is good
for you, you shall have it! And now to close. Who is it that is–

III. THE OBJECT OF THIS REMEMBRANCE

"I have engraved you upon the palms of My hands." " You"–pass it
round. Let each one before God, as though he saw Christ upon the
Judgment Throne, ask himself, "Am I engraved upon the palms of Jesus'
hands–am I" It is nothing that His whole Church is there–His Zion. He
is immediately thinking of His truly blood-bought, regenerate
people–there they are–all there. He has in His eyes the circumstances
as He has on His hands the names of many that are greatly afflicted.
Notice the connection of the text–it is to the afflicted that He is
there speaking. He says, "The Lord will have mercy on His
afflicted"–and He says that their names are on His hands! Don't say,
then, that you are not the Lord's because you are afflicted! Because
you are low in circumstances, or sick in body, don't conclude,
therefore, that you are not in Christ, but rather pray more earnestly
than ever that these trials may be greatly sanctified to you! Nor,
Beloved, don't conclude that you are not Christ's because you feel you
are sinful. Observe how the connection runs, "He will have mercy on His
afflicted." Now mercy is for sinners. I may be a sinner, but yet
engraved on the hands of Christ, for, indeed, all whose names are
written there are, by nature, guilty, but they have obtained mercy! The
greatness of my past guilt does not prove that I have no interest in
Christ. If I have faith in Him. If I come and put my trust in Him, then
is my name written on the palms of His hands! But is it so, dear
Reader? Is it so? Have you trusted Christ or not? Answer, I say again,
as though Christ were here upon the Throne of His Judgment Seat! Answer
now. Do you rest your soul alone on Jesus Christ? If you do, all that
is implied in having yourself imprinted upon the hands of Christ is
yours!

Take it–enjoy it–be glad. What consolation should this Scripture
itself afford! But if you have not believed, touch not these sweet
things, but rather say, "Lord, help me to believe tonight!" To believe
is but to trust–to rest yourself upon Christ. Watts calls it falling–

"A guilty, weak, and helpless worm, On Your kind hands I fall."

Here I am leaning on this rail. If this that I lean upon, fails me,
down I must go! I have no other support. Lean just like this on Christ!
You have seen a fainting person at last throw himself back on another.
Do that to Christ–faint away into Christ! Relax all your own
power–let it all go. That sham power you think you have, and that
merit you think you have, and all the hopes you ever had–let them all
go and now drop into Christ's arms! I have heard it said that if a man
would only lie still when he falls into the water–lie on his back–he
would float. But the tendency is to struggle. Don't struggle, Sinner,
after righteousness in your own strength–fall back and rest on the
Infinite Love of God in Christ Jesus! ' Tis all you have to do–to
leave off doing and let Christ do everything! And when Christ has done
that everything, then you shall begin doing again on quite another
principle–not with a view to merit, but out of gratitude to Him who
saved you! I do pray that some may be saved tonight in this house.
Before they go down yonder steps, may some of you look to Jesus. There
is life in a look! I cannot help bringing out these simple Truths of
God often and often, but they are constantly forgotten. Those that were
bitten by the serpent in the wilderness had not anything to say, had
not anything to feel, had not anything to think of–all they had to do
was just to look to the serpent lifted on the pole! And you have
nothing to do, or feel, or be, in and of yourself–all you have to do
is to look straight away to Christ!

There is not any good thing in you. Know that to begin with. You say,
"But I am bad." I know you are–you are ten thousand times worse than
you think you are! You are bad as you may conceive yourself to be–but
worse than that by fifty thousand times! But your goodness is in Jesus,
your hope is in Jesus. Look straight away now to those dear wounds of
Jesus! Look straight to Him! And if you perish trusting in Christ, you
will be the first sinner that ever perished there! It will be a novelty
in Hell, and the news will be spread on earth, and even in Heaven, that
there was a sinner that trusted Christ and then perished! Farewell to
the Gospel, then! Put away the Bible. We have done with Christ,
Himself, if that could be true. But it never can be! Him that comes to
Me, I will in no wise cast out." Look, Man! Look, Woman! Look, Child!
Whoever you may be, there is life in a look at the Crucified One! There
is life at this moment for you! Look, Sinner! Look unto Him and be
saved! Look unto Jesus, who died on the Cross! May God bless you all
for Christ's sake. Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ISAIAH 42:1-17; 43:18-25; ROMANS 10:1-19.

This book might well be called the Gospel according to Isaiah," for it
is full of evangelical Truth.

Verse 1. Behold My Servant, whom I uphold: My Elect One, in whom My
soul delights: I have put My Spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth
judgment to the Gentiles. Of whom speaks the Prophet this, but of the
Messiah–Jesus of Nazareth? He was upheld by the mighty power of God.
He was the Lord's Chosen. The Spirit of God rested upon Him and this
day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears, for He has brought forth
righteousness to the Gentiles.

2. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in
the street He shall be no clamorous seeker after applause. He shall not
shout as those that seek for the mastery. Now the Savior was quiet,
gentle, meek, humble. When He lifted up His voice, it was for God and
for the sons of men–not for Himself. He was meek and lowly of heart.

3. A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not
quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth.How exactly these
words describe the Lord Jesus! He was so gentle that He did not break
or break off the bruised reeds. We read that He did not answer the
Scribes and Pharisees. They were so powerless–such bruised reeds in
His esteem–such worthless, smoking flax–that He left them alone
until, by-and-by, He came to bring forth judgment unto victory. And now
the weak, the feeble, the gentle, the poor in spirit shall never find
Christ to deal harshly with them. "The bruised reed He will not break:
the smoking flax He will not quench."

4. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till He has set judgment in
the earth and the isles shall wait for His Law. Oh, what a blessed
thing it is that we have a Savior to trust to, who will not fail! And
He is one who will never be discouraged. He will carry out the
salvation of His people and never give it up as a hopeless case. Poor
Sinner, if He begins with you, He will not fail nor be discouraged–nor
will He even with the whole earth. He will not take back His hand till
surely all flesh shall see the Glory of the Lord. He who has undertaken
man's redemption is not feeble of spirit and easily baffled. He shall
not fail or be discouraged!

5, 6. Thus says God the LORD, He that created the heavens, and
stretched them out; He that spread forth the earth, and that which
comes out of it; He that gives breath unto the people upon it and
spirit to them that walk therein: I the LORD have called You in
righteousness, and will hold Your hand, and will keep You, and give You
for a covenant to the people, for a light to the Gentile. See what God
has made His Son, Jesus Christ? If you want to get a Christ in the
Covenant of Grace, you have only to lay hold on Christ, for Christ is
given as a Covenant to the people. He is the embodiment of the
Covenant–the sum and substance of it–the seal of it–the surety of
it. He is, indeed, the Covenant, itself! And if you want light, you
have only to get Christ. He is the Light of the world, and here we are
told that God has given Him for a Light to the Gentiles.

7. To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison,
and they that sit in darkness out of the prison house.Hear this, you
melancholy ones, you that are desponding, you that cannot get out of
the prison of bad habits, or shake off the chains of sin! Behold a
Liberator has come–One whose very business it is to open the fast
closed cells of sin and set the captives of Satan free!

8, 9. I am the LORD: that is My name: and My Glory will I not give to
another, neither My praise to engraved images. Behold, the former
things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they
spring forth, I tell you of them. One great proof of the truth of the
Deity of Jehovah is that He can foresee and foretell, so that long
before events happen, He makes them known. Now Isaiah, by God's Spirit,
told the Israelites concerning Christ, hundreds of years before Christ
came–and yet the terms are so express that one might almost think that
they were written afterthe event. But does not God know? And is not He
God who sees through the mists of ages and looks upon the things that
are to be as though they were? Verily He is God!

10, 11. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and His praise from the ends of
the earth, you that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the
isles, and the inhabitants thereof Let the wilderness and the cities
thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits: let the
inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the
mountains. For the coming of Christ is the coming of music into the
world! When He hung upon the Cross, there were lighted up new stars to
cheer earth' s night. No, what if I say that the sun, itself, had risen
then to chase away the darkness once and for all? O Lamb of God!
Creation made the angels sing, but Redemption makes us fallen men sing,
for it lifts us up to sit among the angels through Your most precious
blood!

12. Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare His praise in the
islands. Now for His enemies. While God is thus graciously dealing with
men, He determines to make an end of the powers of evil.

13. The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, He shall stir up jealousy
like a man of war: He shall cry, yes, roar; He shall prevail against
His enemie. Do not imagine that the gods of the heathen will always sit
on their thrones or that the powers of anti-Christ will always darken
the earth. Ah, no! God will bestir Himself before long.

14. Ihave a long time heldMy peace; Ihave been still and refrained
Myself: now willI cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and
devour at once.Oh, what a time will that be when God comes forth in the
splendor of His power to put down all the hosts of evil!

15. I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs:
and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools. What a
terrible God He is! When He once puts forth His hand for deeds of
justice and of vengeance, who can stand before Him? But yet how His
mercy walks arm-in-arm with His justice!

16. And I will bring the blind by the way that they knew not; I will
lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light
before them and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto
them, and not forsake them. Oh, the condescension of God, that even
when His right arm is bared for war, and thunder girds His cloudy car,
yet still He stoops out of the chariot of wrath to look after poor,
blind, helpless souls, and lead them in the way of peace and mercy. But
as for His enemies–

17. They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, who trust
in engraved images, that say to the molten images, You are our gods.

ISAIAH43:18-25.

Verses 18, 19. Do not remember the former things, neither consider the
things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing: now it shall spring
forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness,
and rivers in the desert. Do not imagine that what God has done in the
past will never be repeated! It will be excelled–He will do yet
greater things. Of all the mercy and love which God has shown, we may
say that these are only prophecies of what He yet will reveal. There
are now things yet to come wherein the splendor of His mercy shall be
yet more clearly seen than in all the former things!

20, 21. The beast of the field shall honor Me, the dragons and the
owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the
desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen. This people have I
formed for Myself; they shall show forth my praise.However barren may
your soul be and however all your surroundings may seem to be stamped
with death, God can come and make you happy and blessed and surround
you with delights! And He will do it in order that in you, whom He has
formed for Himself, His praise may be seen!

22. But you have not called upon Me, O Jacob. Prayer has been
neglected. Praise has been suspended. There has been an ungracious
negligence in the service of God. You have not called upon me, O
Jacob."

22. But you have been weary of Me, O Israe. You thought the service
long–thought the time for prayer came around too soon–refused to give
to My cause and said it was a tax. You have been weary of Me, O
Israel."

23. You have not brought Me the small cattle of your burnt offerings;
neither have you honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not encased
you to serve with an offering, nor wearied you with incense. I have not
taxed you. I have not drawn upon your resources heavily."

24. You have bought Me no sweet cane with money, neither have you
filled Me with the fat of your sacrifices. "I left you to give or not
to give, that your free will might be seen in all your deeds of love,
but nothing has come of it. On the contrary"–

24. You have burdened Me with your sins, you have wearied Me with your
iniquities.A solemn charge, this, which God lays against His people.
Now see the next verse and read it with wondering eyes!

25. I, even I, am He that blots out your transgressions for My own
sake, and will not remember your sins. He has pointed out the fault. He
has shown that He is not forgetful of it. And then He pronounces
absolution! The transgression is put away! Blessed be His name! Now let
us turn to the New Testament and read in the Epistle to the Romans, the
10th Chapter, and we shall there see the way in which pardon is brought
home to the soul.

ROMANS 10:1-19.

Verses 1-3. Brethren, my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is
that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal
for God, but not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of
Gods righteousness, and going about to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of
God.A fault–a pitiable and grievous fault–that men should be in
earnest and very zealous, and yet nothing should come of it because
they spend that zeal in a wrong direction! Men would make themselves
righteous. They would come before God in the apparel of their own
works, whereas God has already made a righteousness which He freely
gives!For us to try and produce another is to enter into rivalry with
God–to insult His Son and do dishonor to His name! May God grant that
any here who are very zealous in a wrong direction may receive light
and knowledge, and turn their thoughts in the right way.

4, 5. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. For Moses describes the righteousness which is of the
law, that the man who does those things shall live by them.That is the
righteousness of the Law of God. We are not under that Covenant now. We
shall never attain to righteousness that way.

6-9. But the righteousness which is of faith speaks on this wise, Say
not in your heart, Who shall ascend into Heaven? (That is, to bring
Christ down from above). Or, who shall descend into the deep? (That is,
to bring up Christ again from the dead). But what does it say? The word
is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart; that is the word of
faith, which we preach. That if you shall confess with your mouth the
Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him
from the dead, you shall be saved. How very simple! No climbing, no
diving, no imagining, no long reckoning of the understanding, no
strangling of the mental faculties. It is just believe God's testimony
concerning His Son and you shall be saved!

10, 11. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says,
Whoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed. For there is no
difference between the Jew and the Greek [Gentile] in this matter.

12, 13. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him.
For whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This
was the old prophecy of Joel. The Jews knew it. It is the new teaching
of the Gospel. The Gentiles know it. Oh, who would not wish to be in
that broad "whoever," that he might find salvation?

14, 15. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how
shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except
they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them
that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good
things?So that, rightly looked upon, the humblest preacher of the
Gospel stands in the most solemn relationship towards mankind. His
Master sends him. He tells His message. Men hear it, believe it and by
it are saved! Happy is the messenger! Well may his heart rejoice, even
when his soul is heavy, because he has such work to do in his Master's
name!

16. But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who
has believed our report? And what Isaiah says, many and many a preacher
since has had to say. "Woe, woe to us for this."

17-19. So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
But I say, Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went into all
the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. But I say, Did
not Israel know?Did not the Jewish people have a time of hearing and
instruction? Certainly they knew–and they also knew that the Gospel
was not to be confined to them. They had a warning that it would even
be taken from them and sent to other nations.