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[0:00] I'm the Minister of Covenant Church down in East Ayrshire and it's a joy to be with you today. I've been up with the family for the week and enjoying the island. I've only been to Lewis once very briefly before for a!

[0:11] Presbytery meeting and arriving in January at about five o'clock in the afternoon just for the sake of one meeting and then leaving again. Not the best way to experience the island, so it's been nice to be back for a slightly longer stay and a joy to be with you all this morning.

[0:27] As I was sat just there, I was looking at the clock on the right to know when to start and then looking at the clock on the back wall and realising that the one on the back wall you've got staring at me is about five minutes ahead of the actual time, which presumably is an attempt to keep me breathing. We'll see how we get on.

[0:46] You should have been given information sheets as you come in, so you make sure you've had a look at those. If any of you are expecting a Sunday school this morning, unfortunately that doesn't start this week.

[0:57] That'll be next week. I believe that that begins. But I'm sure you'll all enjoy the service nevertheless. Otherwise, everything should be in there. I'm encouraged to see the barbecue and the back to church Sunday.

[1:10] Do make sure that you're inviting your friends along for that as well as coming yourselves. In Revelation chapter 21, John records, I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea.

[1:29] And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people.

[1:46] And God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.

[2:01] And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

[2:14] For those whose names are this day written in that book, we therefore look forward to that day of renewal and restoration and recreation, that day when we will dwell forever with our God.

[2:26] This he has said, this he has promised, this is our confidence, and because of this we worship him. Our first psalm this morning, number 96, is on page 198, in the psalm book that I have up here at least.

[2:44] Psalm 96, and we'll be singing verses 1 to 5, so the first four stanzas. O sing a new song to the Lord, sing all the earth to God, to God sing, bless his name, show still his saving health abroad.

[3:00] O sing a new song to the Lord, sing all the earth to God, to God sing, bless his name, to God sing, bless his name, show still his saving health abroad.

[3:34] Amen. among the even nations whose glory will be clear and unto all the people show His worth and one desire for grace the Lord and faith we be is to be magnified be worthy to be pure is he how the

[4:45] Lord God beside for all the gods of evil come with thorn in nations and see the dark on it is the Lord by whom the heavens create and wear Will you please stand and we'll come to God together in prayer O Lord our God it is our joy this morning to sing to you you are worthy of all of the songs of our hearts the new song that we sing each day as we rejoice in the day that you have made in your goodness to us in your provision for us

[6:05] Lord you are sovereign over all the earth you are sovereign over the grand events of history and you are sovereign over the details of each moment of our lives you know the very hairs on our heads you know the wonderful things that we have done and you know too the awful things that we have done you know the ways that we have failed the ways that we have fallen short the ways that even on this day this Lord's day that should be devoted to your worship and your praise when you should be foremost in our minds you know the ways that even this day we have failed the ways that we have allowed anger into our hearts the times that we have been short with one another the times when we have not been as fully devoted to you as we should Lord you know our sins and it is painful to us to reflect upon them to recognise how unworthy we are how dependent we are but Lord that is our only hope that is our joy and our privilege that we hope not in ourselves but in what you have done for us our hope is in our Lord Jesus Christ our hope is in his name we plead his blood we plead his righteousness we stand before you therefore this morning even despite our sins we stand you before we stand before you as of right as those who have have the right to be here to be in your presence not because of ourselves but because of what you have done for us because you have declared us to be righteous in your sight you have made us worthy of your love worthy of your presence worthy to come before you and give you thanks and praise and so Lord we pray that as we spend this time together in your presence this morning we pray that you will build us up we pray that you will give us enjoyment in fellowship with one another we pray that you will equip us for the week that lies ahead but more than all of these things that we ask for ourselves

[8:27] Lord our desire is that you will be glorified that you will be lifted high that your name will be honoured that you will be shown to each one of us gathered here to be worthy beyond all praise Lord God we worship you in this time together and with our whole lives yours be the honour the power and the glory we pray Amen Okay Boys and girls children if you would do me a favour if you would come down to the front up to that table there and I've got a little exercise that we're going to do together it will not work very well if you all stay back there so do come down and join me I promise I don't mind and I might even have a little treat for you if you're feeling adventurous enough okay I don't need that one but excuse me please so today we are thinking about memory so I need you to play a little game for me

[9:29] I'm going to show you the things on the tray I'm going to give you a couple of minutes to look at them and remember all the things and then we're going to hide the tray and you'll need to tell me what they all are okay okay here we go here's the tray there are nine different things on the tray so you need to see whether you can remember all nine this part's not so fun for those of you sitting in the back you can't even see what's on the tray don't worry they'll tell you in a minute what's on there okay do we can't do we've got them can we remember them all ready to hide them okay I'm going to hide those and then I've got one more thing to give you I need to put on your hand give me your hand each other and I'm going to put on your hands one of these notes over there can you tell me what does it say on the note on your hand building block okay and everybody has a note that says building block right who thinks they can remember all of the things that are on the tray okay well let's start with you

[10:43] Aletia can you tell me what's on the tray four to third the four to third one thing what else a controller a controller remote control yeah two things what else is on there a building block on the tray okay anything else okay so you've got three third remote control and the building block let's go how many of you do I think you can remember five five okay go for it remote control and the spatula and the legal block building block yeah so okay one more okay one more or a pencil you're just adding one on to that one okay good over there how many can you do uh I think I can do all of them you reckon you can do all right okay go for it uh so a teaspoon serving spoon a tray building block remote control um the poorest bird thing um well we've run out have you got one or two so uh scar scar um what can you sweeties sweeties anyway so nobody remembered all mine on their own but which one does it care for everybody know the block the block why did you all remember the block did you put it on our hands because I put it on your hands so it's hard to remember things isn't it it's hard to know all the things that we should be remembering so I'm not sure anybody remembers the salt shaker um and very few people remember the sweets

[12:48] I remember the but we all remember the building block do you know it says in the bits of Isaiah that we're going to look at in a little bit God says I have graven you on my hands now graven means written but kind of dog in like engraving on a stone so God says he's written our names on his hands and therefore God will never forget us so we can forget all kinds of things but the things we write on our hands we remember those God says we're written on his hands he will never forget us so you can each have one sweet that being excellent and helpless and then we are going to pray about what we have just learned good job there aren't too many children because we're telling you small packets of blessed problems Lord God thank you that you have written our names on your hands thank you that you have promised that you will never forget us thank you for the confidence that we can have in your love and your provision for us each and every day

[13:55] Amen okay boys and girls you can go back to your seats and I am going to deliver one more sweet even though you didn't want to find that you're still sitting very nicely so here you go you have the noise okay now I think we're going to sing again next but this is the downside of coming out of the pulpit if you get your notes yes with a 103rd Psalm and we're going to sing from verse 13 onwards the 103rd Psalm which is on page 212 but we're starting at page verse 13 so page 214 this Psalm reminds us of who we are verse 14 he remembers we are dust and he our frame well knows for our man his days are like the grass as flower in field he grows and in that contrast to our short-lived nature

[14:56] God's mercy stands in powerful contrast in the latter verses so Psalm 103 from verse 13 put put The Father of the Father, the dear His children dear, Like that He shows the Lord to such as worship Him in fear.

[15:42] For dearly men, that we are just, and He are free, well known.

[16:01] Hail man, His grace, our anger gas, has burned in field, And He is yours.

[16:23] For over it the wind shall pass, And if the way is gone, And on the place where once it was, They shall know what we know, But unto them, I give Him fear, God's mercy never ends,

[17:24] Until their children's children's children, His righteousness extends, To such a sea is governor, And my evil heart always, Of this most God, From an image that they may live, And O day.

[18:31] So we're going to read now from God's Word, From chapter 49 of Isaiah's prophecy. Chapter 49 beginning at verse 13.

[18:42] It's on page 811 in this Bible. I don't know whether there's a few Bibles with the same numbering or not, But Isaiah chapter 49 beginning at verse 13.

[19:01] So Isaiah's prophecy, chapter 49, verse 13. Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth, And break forth into singing, O mountains, For the Lord hath comforted His people, And will have mercy upon His afflicted.

[19:19] But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, And my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, That she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?

[19:31] Yea, they may forget, Yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually before me.

[19:42] Thy children shall make haste, Thy destroyers and they that made thee waste Shall go forth of thee. Lift up thine eyes round about, And behold, all these gather themselves together, And come to thee.

[19:56] As I live, saith the Lord, Thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, As with an ornament, And bind them on thee as a bride doeth. For thy waste and thy desolate places, And the land of thy destruction, Shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, And they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.

[20:17] The children which thou shalt have, After thou hast lost the other, Shall say again in thine ears, The place is too straight for me, Give place to me that I may dwell.

[20:28] Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these? Seeing I have lost my children, And am desolate, A captive and removing to and fro, And who hath brought up these?

[20:41] Behold, I was left alone. These where have they been? Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hands to the Gentiles, And set up my standards to the people, And they shall bring thy sons in their arms, And thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders, And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, And their queens thy nursing mothers.

[21:04] They shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, And lick up the dust of thy feet, And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, For they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

[21:16] Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, Or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, And the prey of the terrible shall be delivered.

[21:29] For I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, And I will save thy children. And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh, And they shall be drunken with their own blood, As with sweet wine.

[21:41] And all flesh shall know that I, The Lord, am thy Saviour, And thy Redeemer, The mighty one of Jacob. Thus saith the Lord, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, Whom I have put away?

[21:53] Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, And for your transgressions is your mother put away.

[22:04] Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver?

[22:15] Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness, Their fish stinketh, Because there is no water, And dieth for thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness, And I make sackcloth their covering.

[22:30] This is God's word to us this morning. Do please keep that section of Isaiah's prophecy open, We'll return to it in a moment, But first, let's turn again to God in prayer.

[22:46] Lord God, we thank you this morning For your many blessings to us. We thank you for the sunshine we enjoy, We thank you for the rain that waters the earth, We thank you for the health in our bodies, For the food in our mouths, The very breath in our lungs.

[23:05] All these things are good gifts to us from you. You have provided for us all that we have needed. We thank you for the privilege of bringing this day, And offering to your purposes, The money that you have given to us.

[23:20] We recognise that as we give to you, And to the work of your church, That we give you only what is yours already. The cattle on a thousand hills are yours. All the resources of this earth are at your disposal.

[23:33] And so we pray, That you will continue to provide for the needs of your church. That you will be pleased to keep your promise, That you will build your church, And the gates of hell will not prevail.

[23:45] Lord, in this day, When the church often seems hard pressed, When we sometimes see numbers dwindling away, When our faces that we would long to see, Friends and neighbours are not here, Gathered in your presence.

[23:59] Lord, we trust your promises, That whether by many or by few, You will indeed build your church. Lord, we pray that you would gather people in, In this place, And in other congregations across this island, Across our land and around the world.

[24:14] Lord, we thank you for the proclamation of your word, Week by week. We thank you for the vision of our denomination, To see a healthy gospel church, For every community in Scotland.

[24:25] We recognise that there are too many places, Where there is not a church, Proclaiming the good news of the gospel. We recognise that there are too many churches, That want for the regular, Consistent week by week, Preaching of your word, From the man of your choosing, From one who is a pastor, To the people there.

[24:46] Lord, we thank you for the provision, Of those who are able to preach occasionally, To come week by week. But Lord, we know, The benefit, The privilege, Of one who you have, Put in place to serve your people.

[24:59] And so Lord, I pray that for your people here, You will soon, Show to them the man of your choosing, For the next chapter, Of their lives together. And that you will make abundantly clear, Both to him, And to your people here, What you have in store.

[25:16] That marriage that you intend, To bring together. Lord, thank you that, That you are about your work, That you are fulfilling your purposes, That nothing can prevent you, From achieving what you intend, Both for the long term, And in the short term, In the immediate.

[25:36] Lord, we thank you, For your provision. And we pray that you will be, With us as we spend this time together, As we consider your word, Help us to understand, Help us to, Recognize these things, In our minds, But more than that, Lord, Impress your word upon our hearts, That it might affect, Not just our thinking, But our behaviour, That it might affect, What we do, At this day, And throughout this week.

[26:02] Lord, Our desire is to, Honour you with, Our whole lives. So we pray, That you would equip us, For that purpose. That you may be glorified, In all things. For we ask it, In Jesus' own precious name.

[26:15] Amen. Well, We'll turn back to Isaiah, In a moment, But first we're going to sing, From Psalm 27, The 27th Psalm, And the last stanza, That we'll be singing from it, Ties in with what we've heard, From the prophet Isaiah, The 27th Psalm, From verse 7, That's on page 49, In the psalm book, Psalm 27, From verse 7, The last stanza, O God of my salvation, Leave me not, Nor forsake, Though me, My parents, Both should leave, The Lord will me uptake.

[26:52] So Psalm 27, From verse 7 onwards. O Lord, Give me an answer in my heart, When I declare to thee, Upon me, Upon me also, miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle I face, then the un-dee-dee reply,

[28:02] Thus did my heart above all things, Thus did my heart above all things, Thy face, Lord, see where I, Far from behind, not the light face, Who not away from thee, Thy servant in thy wrath, thou hast, Thy servant in thy wrath, thou hast,

[29:09] And help us bring to me. O God of my salvation, Leave me not, not forsake, Though me, my parents, all should leave, Though me, my parents, all should leave, The Lord will me obtain.

[30:04] Well, I suggest that all of us, I imagine, pretty much every person in the world, has thought at one time or another, God has forgotten me.

[30:27] He does not care about me. Either he doesn't know what I'm facing, or he doesn't care. And either way, I'm on my own. I'm abandoned. I will have to deal with this myself.

[30:39] We feel abandoned and betrayed. We feel forsaken and forlorn. We feel distressed and dismayed. It's perhaps not easy to admit, but I find it hard to imagine there's anyone of you listening to me this morning who hasn't at some point thought something like this.

[30:59] Now, maybe you've responded to that in a variety of ways. Maybe you've told yourself not to be so stupid because there is no God. How can he have abandoned you? Or maybe you've told yourself not to be so stupid because you know what God's really like and he wouldn't do that.

[31:15] He wouldn't abandon you. Or perhaps a whole spectrum of possibilities in between. Or you can move on from the initial thought in a variety of different ways. But I think that initial impression, that gut reaction to a situation that we have been abandoned, I think it's a universal experience.

[31:33] And that is exactly what God's people say at the start of our reading today. Although verse 13 calls for rejoicing in response to the salvation that God promises through the person of his servants, the response we find from God's people is not rejoicing, not based on confidence in their God, not based on his promises, but their response is based instead on their circumstances.

[31:56] And based on the assumption that those circumstances imply betrayal and abandonment. Now we've been working through the book of Isaiah in my congregation over a number of years and mostly we take out big chunks at a time and we try and deal with the whole section.

[32:15] Every now and then though, it's good to slow down, isn't it? And to dig in deep on one or two verses. Not to ignore the broader context, but to focus our attention on one or two sentences.

[32:29] And it's that latter approach we're going for today. So my hope is that as we explore verses 15 and 16 really of chapter 49, we'll therefore be encouraged and refreshed in our understanding of who God is.

[32:43] Indeed, who God has always been. Since before the dawning of time, he has not changed. Throughout the days of the Old Testament, he has been this way. Throughout the New Testament and throughout history ever since.

[32:55] Maybe this aspect of God's character that we're going to focus on today, maybe it's more readily visible in the New Testament. But folks, don't ever think that there's a change in who God really is.

[33:07] Don't think that at the end of the Old Testament, that's the marker of God being persuaded to relent of his former angry ways. That is a misunderstanding of who God is and how he is revealed in Scripture.

[33:21] Perhaps you recall how God revealed his character to Moses at Mount Sinai. Exodus 34, the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with Moses there and proclaimed the name of the Lord.

[33:33] And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children unto the third and the fourth generation.

[33:59] God has always been this way, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth. Much later on, just a few verses into his letter, the Apostle James records that God does not change like shifting shadows.

[34:14] The character of God revealed to Moses is the character of God revealed in Isaiah's prophecies, is the character of God displayed in the life and death of Jesus Christ, is the character of God described in the New Testament epistles, is the character of God as we may know him today.

[34:32] Here in these verses, we see our God who does not change. So as we dive in to these verses, a little bit of background for you.

[34:43] Isaiah is writing these words decades in advance of what they're referring to. He writes before the exile, but for the benefit of those who will in due course be taken into exile.

[34:55] So at the time to which these verses are referring, they have been long ago taken away from their homes and their city and their country. They've been transported to a far off land as a conquered people.

[35:09] And what we must have in our heads is that the exile is absolutely mind-blowing to God's people. It's devastating to them. Because their understanding was that they were God's chosen people.

[35:23] Their sense of self is we are the ones to whom God has given this land. He drove out the prior inhabitants so we could have it. So we could be safe.

[35:34] They know God made promises about Jerusalem. They know God made promises about David's descendants and yet, yet here they are, the intended audience for this prophecy, here they are in exile.

[35:47] And so you can see how the logical conclusion according to verse 14 is that God has given up on them. That he's proven to be either unwilling or unable to preserve them in safety.

[36:00] He's abandoned them to their folks. The two different verbs here, the forsaken, the forgotten, one of them points to that outward experience of abandonment and the second to the inner experience.

[36:13] Not only no visible evidence of his help, but their understanding is that corresponds to an inward neglect that God in his very self is unconcerned for them.

[36:26] Where is your God now? The familiar taunt from their enemies. And little wonder they internalised it. They questioned the situation themselves. They say to one another, the Lord has forsaken me.

[36:38] My Lord has forgotten me. And the truth is we very easily find ourselves in the same position, don't we? Because, well, God says he delights to give good gifts to his children.

[36:52] So how do we take it when we find ourselves in a situation that cannot be called good by any stretch of the imagination? How do we take it when we fall seriously ill?

[37:05] How do we react when loved ones die young and unexpectedly? How do we respond when we are let down by people who said they loved us? Don't we find this same response?

[37:16] That we find ourselves wondering whether God has abandoned us. Whether we have been forsaken by the one who should have been our protector. It is a natural reaction.

[37:29] It's a natural reaction. But let's be honest with ourselves. It is not a right and proper reaction, is it? It is not how we should respond to these kinds of circumstances.

[37:40] We see how it happens. It's understandable. We're unsurprised. But we know it's not what we should be feeling, don't we? Because, yes, God's people knew that he'd made promises about the land.

[37:52] They knew themselves to be God's chosen people. But they also knew that the covenant at Mount Sinai came with warnings in the event of disobedience. came with curses for those who turned away from God and that those curses culminated in the threat of exile.

[38:07] They should have known exactly what was going on. And similarly today, we know, yes, God promises ultimate good to his people. He promises he will work all things for the good of those who love him.

[38:18] That's absolutely unequivocally true. But we also know he doesn't promise us that our day today will be easy. It shouldn't surprise us when challenges come our way.

[38:29] James begins his letter reminding us, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

[38:43] See, the proper response, the proper reaction to adverse circumstances is not to declare ourselves abandoned by God and to rail against him. So, given how improper, how offensive the reaction is from God's people, you might expect that God's response will be anger.

[39:07] That he will chastise them for not speaking rightly of him. That he will remind them, it is they who have done the abandoning, not he. That's what you might expect. And there are parts of scripture, including parts of the book of Isaiah, that do respond in those kinds of terms to those kinds of situations.

[39:25] But interestingly, not so here. Listen to these verses again. Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?

[39:44] Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. My walls are continually before me.

[39:55] And the following verses continue in similar vein, promising future blessings to God's people. So how would you characterise God's response? When they accuse him of abandoning them, how does God respond?

[40:08] Well, he doesn't just accept it. He doesn't let it go unchallenged as though it were true. He doesn't hold his hands up and say, oh yes, I dropped the ball and now I'm going to do better. No, no, no, no, no. But he also doesn't respond in angry defensiveness.

[40:22] Knowing this response, there's a sense of entreaty, isn't there? God winsomely calling his people back. The two different pictures that he uses to reassure his people, the mother and her baby, the engraving on the palm.

[40:38] He's drawing them back, drawing us back, to recognise who he really is, what he is really like. I suggest it's hard to conceive of a more compelling, more convincing metaphor than the one here in verse 15, isn't it?

[40:55] Because even among the animals, the vast majority of species, mothers care diligently for their children and even more so, it is of course, what happens among us. And the intimate dependence that's in view, it's clear in the image of the nursing child, the baby at her breast.

[41:11] It'd be hard, wouldn't it, for the mother to forget that she has a child as the infant lies cradled in her arms. And the term used here, it speaks specifically of the newborn baby.

[41:21] This isn't a grown-up child off raising his own family off at university. This is not even the child a few years old off to school for the day. Maybe in those cases, for a few moments, the child might from time to time not be at the forefront of the mother's mind, though the bond remains.

[41:38] But no, this is not even that. This is the baby cradled right there in her arms. The baby absorbing her absolute focus, her devoted care, the baby nourished from her own body.

[41:50] We know this, it resonates. The depth of love and affection that a mother feels for her beloved child. Cherished in her bosom, suckling at her breast, this child who she watches with tender care as she passes the sleepless nights, as she wearies herself with her continued anxiety.

[42:09] Sooner would she forget her own self than fail to care for this child who is so dependent on her. The second line, an angle of further depth. This is the son of her womb, the child she has born.

[42:21] There's a shared life. They are absolutely, irrevocably bound together. The can, at the start of the verse, it's a literal one. God asks his people, is it possible?

[42:32] Can she forget? Is she capable of it? And the natural answer, of course, is no. We watch the films, we read the books where parents go to great lengths for their children.

[42:45] Finding Nemo, Marlon returns, he finds Nemo missing. Of course he will cross the ocean to retrieve him. That's what parents do. Stories like that work because it's the behaviour we expect.

[42:58] It's what's natural and proper. The mother can't forget the nursing child. And that unforgetfulness will necessarily produce practical care. She will have compassion, forgiven.

[43:09] It is unthinkable that a mother should forget her child. And God says in the close of the verse, his own love, care and protection, the certainty that he will not forget, well this is even stronger still.

[43:24] See, we do sadly live in a fallen world, don't we? Maybe as we've explored there the theme of the mother's love together, maybe you've fallen into the whataboutery, into the exceptions that prove the rule, into the mothers who do fail in their love and compassion.

[43:41] I don't know you, maybe some of you have experienced those failures and that lack of love. I agree that that's your experience, but there are no such exceptions and exemptions and quibbles and uncertainties in God's love and compassion.

[43:58] Though even a mother should forget, as unlikely as that may be, God will not forget his own. Jesus speaks in similar terms in Matthew 7.

[44:11] What man is there of you whom if his son asks bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

[44:31] Though we, depraved and tainted by sin as we are, though too often we love ourselves more than we should and therefore fail in our love of others, yet still even such as we know to give good gifts to our children, how much more will guard who is goodness itself.

[44:50] Perhaps you've heard the hymn how firm a foundation. The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to its foes.

[45:03] That soul, though all hell should endeavour to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake. That is God's promise to us this morning.

[45:17] If that first metaphor of the baby at the breast, if that speaks of the depth of the love and the affection, well the second metaphor complements it by focusing more on the longevity, the permanence of God's love for his own.

[45:30] Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually before me. I suspect some of us, we make the habit of writing things on our hands because we don't want to forget them.

[45:43] It's a convenient place because you're bound to see it again soon. You wonder what's that, hopefully you haven't already walked past the shop before you're reminded to buy the milk. The hand's a good place for the reminder because we see it all the time.

[45:55] That's why in Deuteronomy, Moses, as he recommends constant meditation on the law, he says, Put it where you will remember it, says Moses.

[46:33] If you want to be thinking about something, you put it the place where you will see it. A few months ago, my sons, they were both heading off away to an SU weekend. They were leaving while mum was still out at work and so I needed to get them out the door.

[46:47] How was I going to remember to get the Mars bar cake out of the fridge and send it with them while hoping for the best was not going to succeed? No. Before she went out to work Friday morning, Joanna put on the door a post-it note that says, Mars bar cake.

[47:05] It's hard to miss as you go out the door. You remember we put the reminders where they will be brought to mind. God says his people are written on his hands. Of course he will not forget us.

[47:17] We are perpetually in his field of view. And in fact, he says even more than we are written on his hands. When we write those reminders we hope they are not going to be there forever, don't we?

[47:29] But no, God says we are engraved there upon. One trivia question for you. Any of you remember what Ed Miliband spent £7,614 on in the 2015 general election?

[47:46] Pretty obscure as trivia goes. The Labour Party, they were keen to demonstrate they were serious. They wanted to illustrate how committed they were to their promises and so they commissioned a 2.6 metre tall slab of limestone with their six key pledges carved into it and Miliband's signature below.

[48:08] Not for them just a paper manifesto. No, their promises carved into stone and a declared intention. It will be placed in the Downing Street Rose Garden when we win.

[48:19] You can hold us to this. These promises are permanent. Now, it was, to put it mildly, something of a PR misstep. It certainly didn't win them the election.

[48:29] But the idea is not stupid, is it? If something's carved in stone, it's not going anywhere. That's why, with rather more sense than that Labour Party monstrosity, we mark grades with names that are carved into the stone.

[48:46] We don't stick a laminated sheet of paper on a wooden post. We want it preserved. We expect it to last. We carve it into the stone. We try, don't we, to express permanence in a whole variety of different ways.

[49:02] Teenage couples, they go and put the padlocks on the bridges. They carve their initials into trees. We exchange rings and we make them out of precious metals because we're looking for beauty and for longevity.

[49:12] People get tattoos with the names of people who are important to them. We want to mark that permanence. We want to say we are committed. We want to say this is here for the long term.

[49:26] We want to say we will not forget. And here God is, in Isaiah 49, God is saying he has us tattooed on his hands. We are permanently engraved.

[49:38] We are before his eyes, not to be forgotten. And that will not change. That cannot change because it is done in this permanent manner. There's a reassurance here again, isn't there?

[49:51] An invitation to reflect on God's true character. An invitation to reform the mistaken thinking that we're inclined to drift into that God might ever forget us.

[50:02] Might ever abandon us. To reform that according to this more accurate picture of God's promises. God's revealed nature. He will not. He cannot forget his own.

[50:16] The note of invitation here is worth reflecting on slightly further. As we finished our thinking on verse 15 by going back to the first word, the impossibility implied in the word can, well so again in verse 16 we look to the first word of the verse.

[50:31] Behold, or see as we put it in more day-to-day language. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. It's as if God is standing before them saying, look, here I am.

[50:43] Here I am. And here are my hands. Here are my palms. With the self-inflicted wounds of Zion's name. It's as if God says to each and every one of us today, look, here you are.

[50:57] Here at the base of this finger. Do you see your name? Do you see your name in God's hands? You are precious to me.

[51:09] You are safe in my hands. I will not forget you. I will not let you go. When Isaiah writes in the coming chapters of the sufferings of the servants, there's no particular mention of the hands of the servants.

[51:28] No, for that we have to wait till later, don't we? As John records in chapter 20 of his gospel, the same day this evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and said unto them, Peace be unto you.

[51:48] And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. the body of the risen Lord Jesus, in all of its resurrection glory, this transformed body, it yet bore the marks of the crucifixion.

[52:16] Why were those not erased? Why were those wounds not healed as he rose again? Well, because those wounds did not mar his body.

[52:30] Those marks did not injure him. No, they stand there as evidence of his love. There in those wounds, in his hands and his side, there is the confirmation that he did not, he does not, he will not, he cannot forget his own.

[52:55] There, in our Saviour's hands, is revealed to us the extent of his commitment, the length to which he would go, the depth of his love, his compassion, his mercy, his grace.

[53:14] This is God's love and this is for you. Let's pray. Lord God, we thank you again for your promises.

[53:38] we thank you that what you have said to us is as sure and certain as the love of a mother for her child, as a name carved into stone, not more permanent even than these things, without exception of any kind.

[53:58] These are your promises, your compassion to us, your mercy and your grace revealed to us. Lord, we thank you that you do not change, that you are the same yesterday and today and forever, that the God who said to Isaiah all those years ago that his people's names are on his hands, that you are that same God today.

[54:23] We thank you that we see the evidence of that character played out through history. We thank you that we see your love, your mercy and your grace supremely as we look to the cross, as we see our Saviour hanging there, bruised, bloodied, beaten, dying for us, shedding his blood in our place, dying that we might live.

[54:47] Lord Jesus, we thank you for your goodness to us. We thank you for your grace shown to us. We thank you for the hope that we have in you and in you alone.

[54:59] Lord forgive us we ask when we forget your love, when we think that perhaps you have abandoned us, when we look instead of to you but rather to our circumstances, when we look at the pain and the suffering and the struggle, when we look at them and only they are real to us.

[55:21] Lord forgive us for our forgetfulness and lift our eyes, lift our eyes to look again upon our Saviour and to rejoice. in you, to rejoice in what you have done, to rejoice in the forgiveness of our sins, to rejoice in the promises that you have made, to rejoice in our hope of the new heavens and the new earth, when you will wipe away every tear from our eyes, when we will be transformed, our bodies will be like his glorious body.

[55:55] Lord God thank you for who you are, yesterday, today and always. Amen. We'll turn to close to Psalm 46, that song that celebrates God as refuge and strength at present age in time of trouble.

[56:17] Psalm 46. Psalm 46, I'm going to sing the first five verses, that's page 91, God is our refuge and our strength in straits at present age.

[56:39] We'll sing to God's praise. God is our refuge and our strength in straits of present day.

[57:00] Therefore, won't Lord, only earth we will, we will not be afraid.

[57:20] The whole hill of the river be because the water brought in thee.

[57:40] The whole hill of the river be because the water brought in thee.

[58:10] The holy place where in the Lord most high has been.

[58:38] The whole hill of the river be because the water brought in thee. The whole hill of the river be because the water brought in thee. The whole hill of the river be because the water brought in thee.

[58:50] The whole hill of the river be because the water brought in thee. The whole hill of the river be because the water brought in thee. The whole hill of the river be because the water brought in thee. The whole hill of the river be because the water brought in thee. The whole hill of the river be because the water brought in thee.

[59:02]  The whole hill of the river be because the water brought in thee. The whole hill of the river be because the water brought in thee. God ever will God ever will God ever will May you May you have confidence this day that your God will never forget you for you are graven on the palms of his hands you are ever before him Amen