2 Samuel chapter 1, starting at verse 17.
I'll read this trusting that it's God's inspired, inerrant, clear, sufficient, powerful word for you and me, his people.
2 Samuel chapter 1, starting at verse 17.
Then David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son,
and he told them to teach the children of Judah the song of the bow.
Indeed, it is written in the book of Jashur.
The beauty of Israel is slain on your high places.
How the mighty have fallen.
Tell it not to Gath. Proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon.
Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice.
Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.
O mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, nor rain upon you, nor fields of offerings.
For the shield of the mighty is cast away there.
The shield of Saul not anointed with oil.
From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty,
the bow of Jonathan did not turn back.
And the sword of Saul did not return empty.
Saul and Jonathan were beloved and pleasant in their lives and in their death.
They were not divided.
They were swifter than eagles.
They were stronger than lions.
O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,
who clothed you in scarlet with luxury,
who put ornaments of gold on your apparel.
How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle.
Jonathan was slain in your high places.
I am distressed for you.
My brother Jonathan, you have been very pleasant to me.
Your love to me was wonderful,
surpassing the love of women.
How the mighty have fallen,
and the weapons of war perished.
The word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
Please be seated.
Please pray with me.
O Lord, we ask that your Holy Spirit will make clear,
illuminate your word to your people today.
Lord, we pray that Christ will be lifted up and exalted,
that your Holy Spirit will apply Christ to your people today through faith.
Lord, we pray that Christ will nourish your people
with those spiritual nutrients that we need.
You know where we're deficient, Lord.
Please take these ordinary words
and use it in an extraordinary way by your power for your glory.
Please help the preacher to preach Christ
with the freedom of a friend
and with the affection of a brother.
For your glory and for Christ's sake we pray.
Amen.
Memory is a powerful thing.
Aristotle called it the scribe of the soul.
Memory, according to Webster's Dictionary of 1828,
is the faculty of the mind
by which we retain knowledge of past events.
And similar to that is our recollection of a memory.
Recollection is the operation
by which ideas are recalled to the memory
or revived in the mind.
How we process a significant event in our lives
will shape the way we remember it.
Hasn't that been true in your experience as well?
What's fascinating that I learned this week
is that modern neurologists, studying the brain,
it tells us that every time a person recalls a memory,
you are editing and rewriting it.
Think how powerful our memories are.
Because we are fallen creatures,
our emotions and our memory
can distort our perceptions of past events.
Well, leading up to our sermon passage today,
Saul and all of his sons, the princes, all died.
And there's Israel.
It's a picture, a shadow of the kingdom of heaven
come onto earth.
But this kingdom is kingless.
The nation got its front teeth punched out.
What is the whole kingdom feeling right now?
How will God's people process this event?
How will they look back on this horrible defeat?
And how will they store these memories
of Saul's entire reign as their king?
David has been anointed king,
but he's not yet ruling completely.
I believe what we have in our sermon passage for today
is God, by the Holy Spirit,
working how he worked mysteriously in the old covenant,
using David to shepherd the emotions
and the memory of the kingdom.
He's shepherding their emotions
and their national memory of God's people.
Look at verse 17.
We read that David lamented with this song.
It's a dirge,
which is a song you sing in a time of sadness and mourning.
He's sad over the loss of the nation,
but especially Saul and Jonathan are the two subjects.
Verse 18 is very interesting on the purpose of this song.
Look at verse 18.
David commands that it be taught to the children of Judah.
And he called it the song of the bow.
That's the title.
Why Judah?
Well, Judah is the tribe that David's from,
and it's the land where he's been traveling,
been closest to,
where he's beginning to consolidate an army,
people following him.
He'll soon begin acting as king of Judah
before he becomes the king of the whole nation.
And he wants the children,
the next generation in Judah,
to remember this event in this way.
So he's very careful with how he does it.
And he ordered that this be written
in the book of Jasher.
Do you see that word, Jasher, in verse 18?
That Hebrew word means upright.
The book of the upright.
You're supposed to read this book.
It's been lost to history.
We don't know much about it or anything too specific,
but it's mentioned also in the book of Joshua
after the Lord did something mighty.
Write it in the book of Jasher.
And it's a book for the upright,
the men of valor,
for the army to be inspired and remembered.
And that's how David wants this death of Saul and Jonathan
to be remembered,
as an inspiration for the army in the future.
Before we walk through this song itself,
some of us are united to Christ.
We're saved.
We know God has declared us to be righteous.
But many of us, at least if you're like me,
we are still tormented by our own broken flesh.
1 John 3.20 admits this.
Our hearts condemn us still.
He's writing to the Christians, to the church.
Our hearts still condemn us.
But God is greater than our heart.
Brothers and sisters,
we need Christ to shepherd our hearts,
to shepherd our emotions,
and maybe even to heal our memories.
So the title of today's sermon is this.
O army of God,
remember this mountain.
Here's four reasons that David gives us.
Number one,
O army of God,
remember this mountain
where the glory of God's people was slain.
Remember this mountain
where the glory of God's people was slain.
That's what he says in verse 19.
The beauty or glory of Israel
is slain in your high places.
How the mighty have fallen.
And that's the refrain.
He says it three times.
How the mighty have fallen.
In verse 20, he says,
tell it not in Gath.
Proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon.
Why these two places?
Well, these are mighty hubs
for the army of the enemy,
the Philistines.
Don't let them know what happened.
He says,
lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice.
Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised,
those people that are outside of God's covenant,
will triumph.
What we have going on
is David calling the people of God,
the army,
to sing and remember this,
how the mighty have fallen.
But don't let them hear what we're saying.
We need to process this emotion.
We need to grieve it.
But don't let them know
because we're at war still.
The war is not over.
It's a worship war.
It's a fight over what will be sung
and to whom it will be proclaimed.
This is so fascinating to me
because it's David's response
to the last actions
we saw the Philistines take.
You can flip back probably one leaf
in your Bible
to 1 Samuel chapter 31,
the last chapter of 1 Samuel.
And look at verses 9 and 10.
Here's the last action of the Philistines.
Here's what they did.
And now what we get now
is David's response,
his counteraction.
What the Philistines did
was go to Saul's dead body,
cut off his head,
strip off his armor,
and then sent word
throughout the land
of the Philistines
to gospel it,
to declare it
in the temple of their idols
and among the people.
And they put his armor
in the temple of their Ashteroth,
and they fastened his body
to a city wall.
The Philistines are singing
their own songs.
They're proclaiming
their own good news.
And they're worshiping
in their temples
about this great victory
over God's people.
people.
David's calling
the army of God
to grieve over
the loss of this battle,
but the war is not over.
Don't let the enemy
rejoice over us.
He's shepherding their emotions
and how they're going
to process this event.
Instead,
he's calling the people,
lament with me.
He says,
don't let the daughters
of the Philistines hear it,
but now there's a contrasting line
later on in this poem,
in this song.
Look at verse 24
of our sermon passage.
He speaks directly
to another set of daughters
in verse 24.
O daughters of Israel,
weep for Saul.
See, they're cheering
about Saul's death,
but we are honoring Saul.
He's calling
the next generation
of Israel
to keep the fifth commandment,
to honor the authorities
God has put over us,
even though Saul
was not worthy of honor.
this office
that he filled,
the office of an earthly king
over God's people,
is worthy of honor.
So weep with me,
O daughters of Israel.
And he reminds them
very specifically
of God's providence
through King Saul.
Look at verse 24.
He clothed you
in scarlet
with luxury,
who put ornaments
of gold
on your apparel.
See,
even from the hand
of Saul,
the Lord delivered
blessings
for his people.
I love Calvin's comment
on this.
Quote,
even if our enemies
are the most evil
in the world,
David could have felt
that about Saul.
God still
does not want
his grace
to be overlooked.
That's the end
of Calvin's quote.
So the first reason
David gives the nation
is this,
army of God.
Remember this mountain
where the glory
of God's people
was slain.
We're going to lament it,
but we're not going
to let the enemy
rejoice over us.
We'll weep together.
We'll sing together.
We're going to go
through this crisis together,
but the war
is not over.
Here's the second reason.
O army of God,
remember this mountain
where God's anointed
cast away his shield.
Remember this mountain
where God's anointed
cast away his shield.
I'm not a literary expert,
but those that I've read
who are and have studied
Hebrew poetry,
which this is a wonderful
example of Hebrew poetry.
They have been blown away
at the level of complexity
and beauty
in the structure
of this song.
This song did not make it
into the Psalter,
but it did make it
into Holy Scripture.
It's part of the inspired
word of God.
And one of the literary devices
that David uses
is called apostrophim.
It's when a speaker
breaks off from addressing
the audience
or the narrative
and directs his speech
to an absent person
or a personified object.
This is what David does.
He later on is going to speak
to the daughters of Israel
like we just saw.
He's going to speak
to Jonathan,
even though Jonathan is dead.
His body is buried
and his soul is with the Lord.
He's speaking to him
as an apostrophe.
But in verse 21,
who does David speak to?
Look in your own copy
of God's Word.
Verse 21,
O mountains of Gilboa.
Remember the word in Hebrew,
Gilboa is springs
of living water.
So it's a mountain
or a hill
from which comes bubbling up
these springs
that flow into the valley.
And David's speaking
directly to that mountain now.
Let there be no dew
nor rain upon you
nor fields
nor offerings.
He's cursing this mountain.
This is a cursed mountain now.
It's supposed to be
springs of life.
May you get no rain,
no water,
no more life
from you.
You are now
a mountain of death.
So may you be dried up,
lifeless.
For the shield
of the mighty
is cast away there.
When is it that a soldier
casts away his shield?
When does his shield
drop off to his side?
It's when the soldier
goes lifeless.
It's the last thing
to go in a battle
when you're being
overrun by the enemy.
The last thing to drop
will be the shield.
More specifically,
he says,
the shield of Saul.
He's associating
King Saul,
his tormentor,
his persecutor,
with a piece
of the armor.
And if you think
of Saul,
you probably think
of a different piece
from his arsenal,
right?
You probably think
of Saul who always
had what in his right hand?
He always had
that spear.
And he's always
throwing the spear,
trying to kill David,
trying to kill
his own son,
Jonathan.
And David's still
honoring King Saul,
not associating him
with the spear.
But Saul is the shield.
Nowhere is Saul's
evil family,
rival-seeking spear
mentioned in this
entire song.
Saul is being honored
as the commander-in-chief
of the nation's
department of defense,
the shield.
But he says something
interesting in verse 21.
This shield is not
anointed with oil.
Verse 22,
from the blood
of the slain,
from the fat
of the mighty,
he never retreated.
So the image
we have of Saul
is withstanding
this onslaught,
this rushing
of the army.
And now the shield,
which is his symbol,
is dry.
It's not anointed
with oil.
And it's dropped
to his side.
He never retreated.
He got run over
and he's lifeless.
Soldiers would take oil
and they would rub oil
onto a shield.
If it's a bronze
or copper
or iron shield
or something like that,
the oil would help
to deflect an arrow
or a sword,
help it to glance
off of it.
If you didn't have
very much money
and your shield
was made of leather,
you would still put oil
on it to keep it
from getting stiff
and so that it would
serve its purpose better.
And Saul was the very
first national human
king over Israel,
their first shield.
And David's also using
a layered symbolism.
The shield of the nation
is no longer anointed.
He loves using this word,
no longer Messiah.
Remember that civil magistrates
are appointed by God
to wield the sword.
Pray for rulers,
pray for the government,
pray for local
and national defense
and trust that God
preserves the nation
through them
no matter how evil
or wicked they are.
we still praise the Lord
for it.
But it also leaves us
wanting a shield
for the nation,
for the kingdom
that will be anointed,
that will have the oil
of the Holy Spirit
lifting up the defender
of God's people.
And it's foreshadowing
David coming in
as the next anointed king,
the next anointed shield,
but even beyond that
it's pointing to the great
true shield,
the true defender
of God's people.
So remember this mountain
where God's anointed
cast away his shield.
The third reason
he gives them is this,
O army of God,
remember this mountain
where the valiant
did not turn back.
Remember this mountain
where the valiant
did not turn back.
Now we're going to find out
why David titled this song
the way he did.
Remember it's called
the song of the bow,
but we're all the way down
to verse 22
and we still haven't
heard of the bow.
And now he finally says it
in the end of verse 22.
If Saul was the shield,
it was the bow of Jonathan
that did not turn back.
He's lifting up now
the hero of this whole song
which is Jonathan.
Never became a king,
but he is the one
that the mighty soldiers
in future generations
that are going to read about
and they need to look to him
as their pattern.
He says of Jonathan,
he did not retreat.
We need to picture this scene
a little bit better
and if we turn back again
to the last chapter
of 1 Samuel,
we'll find some help.
Look at 1 Samuel chapter 31,
verse 1.
Verse 1 of the last chapter
of 1 Samuel.
And here's the scene.
As it would be with any battle
that's using hand-to-hand combat.
One side mounts up
on one hill or one mountain,
another side on the other mountain,
another hill,
and in the middle is the valley
where they're all going to rush in
and fight.
Whoever wins in the valley
is going to continue to push up
until they overtake the hill
of the enemy.
And if we look at the very first verse
of 1 Samuel 31,
we get this wonderful insight.
So they go down into the valley
and they fight.
But then Israel retreats
and they run.
Well, where do they run?
They run behind their shield
back onto the top of Mount Gilboa
where King Saul would still be.
So here they are retreating
past their king
trying to hide behind him.
And the progression
in a hand-to-hand combat
would be the poorest soldiers
that are the foot soldiers
go down into the valley first.
And then the archers
send their arrows,
the artillery.
And then the wealthier class
that has land
and can afford to have grass
on which a horse could feed,
that's the equestrian class.
So then the cavalry
could come charging in after.
And the chariots of the Philistines
if the terrain would allow it.
And then finally
would be the nobility,
the king of each one,
just like a chess match.
When you get the king,
it's over.
So doesn't that make sense now
as we read verse one?
There's Jonathan
to the right hand of King Saul
waiting up on top of Mount Gilboa.
And here come the Philistines army
overrunning them.
And David says,
if you go back to our sermon passage,
verse 22,
the sword of Saul
did not return empty
and the bow of Jonathan
did not turn back.
There they are.
Jonathan's still firing off arrows
as they charge at him
and Saul with his sword drawn,
not going to run away.
Saul and Jonathan,
he says in verse 23,
were beloved
and pleasant in their lives
and in their death.
They were not divided.
They were swifter than eagles.
They were stronger than lions.
If you look at 1 Samuel 31,
verse 3,
we read it was the archers
that hit Saul
and he was severely wounded
by the archers.
And that might be another reason
why David named this song
the song of the bow.
David is reclaiming the very weapon
that defeated King Saul.
The Lord loves to turn
a symbol of defeat
into a memorial
of his might,
doesn't he?
Yes,
Jonathan died,
but Jonathan did not retreat.
Write this down in the book
so that the next generation
of the army
can be inspired.
David loves to use
the term men of valor,
these valiant men.
And he has his mighty men
that will soon join him
and they'll go around
and by the power of the Spirit,
God will give them
great victories.
But he holds up Jonathan.
He points to his good friend Jonathan,
even though he's probably
40 years older than him,
as a valiant man.
Even though he died,
he's the one
we try to remember
and fight with,
a fight like
when we're in battle.
Remember his valor,
learn from him.
Upright soldiers,
fight to the end.
So army of God,
David says,
remember this valley,
this mountain
where valiant men
did not turn back.
Well,
the fourth reason
David gives the army
is this.
Army of God,
remember this mountain
where the beloved prince
was slain.
Remember this mountain
where the beloved prince
was slain.
Look at verse 27.
How the mighty have fallen.
He says,
the weapons of war perished.
Weapons of war
perish.
Who was the Philistines
greatest weapon
of war?
We joked about
how Goliath
was a weapon
of mass destruction,
undefeated.
And who was Israel's
Goliath?
A head and shoulders above,
taller than anyone else
in all of Israel.
It was Saul.
Saul was Israel's giant
and now he has perished
just like Goliath has.
Both ended up
being decapitated
and both heads
were carried around
as a trophy of war
for the other side.
God teaches
that the weapons
of this world,
metal,
swords,
shields,
spearheads,
remember it was all
the Philistines
that had a monopoly
on metal
and blacksmith.
And Israelites
had to get all their weapons
from the Philistines
and David is just saying
the weapons of war
have perished.
They've gone away.
They've faded away.
There's nothing
to put our hope in anymore
if we're going to have to fight
in the way of the world.
And even though it's subtle,
I believe he's calling to mind
to the Israelites
what they already know
from other parts of Scripture
but have forgotten.
And it's this,
that God's people
don't fight
using the weapons
or tactics
of this world.
And the rest of Scripture
makes it very clear,
including the Old Testament.
May those ways
of the world perish.
2 Chronicles 20.15 says,
Thus says the Lord
to you,
Do not be afraid
or dismayed
because of
this great multitude
for the battle
is not yours
but God's.
Proverbs 21.31
David's son
will write this,
The horse is prepared
for the day of battle
but deliverance
is of the Lord.
Psalm 20.7
This is a Psalm of David.
Some trust in chariots
and some in horses
but we will remember
the name of the Lord our God.
Psalm 46.9
God is the one.
Like we sang today
this powerful song,
God makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
God breaks the bow
and cuts the spear in two.
He burns the chariot
with fire.
Well, the chariot
is the,
it's the tank
of the Philistine army.
I mean,
this is made of metal,
it's pulled by horses
and if you get in the way
of a Philistine chariot,
you are done with.
Don't worry about
the weapons of this world.
The Lord burns
the chariots
of the Philistines
with fire.
The Lord is the one
who will fight for us.
But in this final movement,
these last few verses,
David brings that refrain
to light one more time
in verse 25.
How the mighty
have fallen
in the midst
of the battle.
Notice what he says next.
Jonathan
was slain
in your high places.
By repeating
the refrain here
one last time
and using a literary device
called parallelism,
David is
saying,
what I said initially
was correct.
I had said,
how the mighty
have fallen
the glory of God
in the high places.
And now he's interpreting
what he had said
in verse 19
by repeating it
and saying,
what's more
and telling us
how to understand
the glory of God,
the beauty of God.
And what he says here
is that Jonathan
is exactly that.
The glory of God
that was slain
is Jonathan.
Jonathan
is the glory
of Israel.
Prince Jonathan
is the one
that the upright
should weep over
and never forget
and strive to be like.
And when you fight,
fight remembering
Jonathan.
And he weaves
into this
shepherding
of a nation's emotions,
a nation's memory
forming
and memory writing.
He weaves in
his own personal lament.
He's a transparent
worshiper of God,
grieving
and letting the whole nation
see his grief
in verse 26.
I am distressed
for you,
my brother
Jonathan.
You have been
very pleasant
to me.
Your love
to me
was wonderful,
surpassing
the love
of women.
He's declaring
for the whole nation
to hear that
somehow
there was a ministry
David received
through this prince
that's almost beyond
what words
or comparisons
in this life
can communicate.
Jonathan
is to be remembered
as the bow
and we're to sing
the song
of the bow.
That bow
would draw
to David's memory
that last,
second to the last
encounter,
but that last
great act
of kindness
where Jonathan
had his dad
pressuring him,
King Saul,
to become
the next king
and making David
his enemy.
Don't you see
David's going
to get everything
that should be yours?
And Jonathan
took his bow
with him
and said,
David,
hide behind
that rock
of escape.
I'll use my bow
and I'll signal
to you
how God's
going to preserve
your life.
And he said,
David,
flee.
It's not going
to be safe
under anywhere
that my dad,
King Saul,
has jurisdiction.
Remember 1 Samuel
18.4,
Jonathan then
took off
the royal
princely robe.
He had his other,
you know,
garments I'm sure,
but the symbol
of being a prince
he gave to David.
And he also gave
David his armor.
Listen to the details
of 1 Samuel 18.4,
even to his sword
and his bow
and his belt.
The song of the bow.
David had kept
the head of Saul
everywhere he went.
I'm sure he would
cherish this gift
from Prince Jonathan,
the bow.
Jonathan,
brothers and sisters,
I hope you see,
was for David,
who we now know
in the light
of all revelation,
our Lord Jesus
is for us
who he saved.
Jonathan is a shadow
of Christ.
It's Christ
in his self-sacrifice,
his covenant faithfulness,
giving us his robes
of righteousness,
proving
his trusting obedience
to his father
to the very end,
ultimately by his death.
So, Church of God,
we can't be done today
until we remember together
another place.
And I pray that it's
more than just
our memory being formed
the way God designed.
I pray that it's
the Spirit
rewriting the memory
of the work of Christ
for you who know him.
Oh, Church of God,
remember this place
where a much greater
pivotal battle
took place.
It was a rock
in the shape
of a skull.
In Hebrew,
it's Golgotha.
In Latin,
it's Calvaria.
It's where we get
the word Calvary.
And as worshipers
traveled to the place
where God would meet them,
the temple in Jerusalem
on a hill
called Zion,
they would travel
and pilgrimage there
singing special psalms
called the Songs
of Ascent,
climbing up,
because they had to
go up this mountain range
toward Jerusalem
to the temple.
And our Lord Jesus Christ
met the forces of darkness
and the power of death
at this place,
at the top of this mountain.
The Gospels say
that the crucifixion site
was near the city,
but outside the walls,
and it was visible
from a distance
as ridge lines are.
You can see the cross
as you're climbing up
toward the place
where God will meet
His people.
O army of God,
remember this mountain
where our beloved prince,
the ultimate glory
of God's people
was slain.
Philippians 2, 7 and 8,
He made Himself
of no reputation,
taking the form
of a bondservant,
and coming in the likeness
of men,
He humbled Himself
and became obedient
to the point of death,
even the death
of the cross.
O army of God,
remember this mountain
where God's anointed
cast away His shield.
Our Lord could have
shielded Himself
in any way He wanted,
and He knew this
even in His final moments.
In Matthew 26,
Jesus said,
I could pray to my Father
and He will provide me
with more than 12 legions
of angels.
We read in John 10
that our Lord Jesus
laid down His life
willingly.
He did not shield Himself
from the cross.
He says,
I lay down my life
that I may take it again.
No one takes it from me,
but I lay it down
of myself.
I have power to lay it down,
and I have power
to take it up again.
This command I have received
from my Father.
And He was a valiant man
to the very end.
O army of God,
remember this mountain
where the valiant
did not turn back.
Isaiah 50, verse 5,
gives the words
that Jesus fulfilled.
I was obedient.
I did not turn away.
I set my face like flint.
Luke 9, 51 confirms.
Jesus steadfastly
set His face to do it.
O army of God,
remember this mountain
where the weapons
of war perished.
Our Lord disarmed
the devil
and the host of demons.
They have no power
over Him
or His kingdom.
2 Corinthians 10,
the verses we read
a moment ago,
for though we walk
in the flesh,
we do not war
according to the flesh.
for the weapons
of our warfare
are not carnal,
but mighty in God
for pulling down
strongholds.
So army of God,
remember this mountain.
That's what all
of the New Testament writers
by the inspiration
of the Spirit
call us to do.
Think of Hebrews 12, 2.
Look to our beloved prince
who climbed that mountain,
we could say.
The author and finisher
of our faith,
who for the joy
that was set before Him
endured the cross,
despising the shame.
And our Lord Jesus
didn't stay
on that mountain.
The Lord loves
to turn a symbol
of defeat
into a memorial
of His might.
Once again,
we remember the cross
empty now,
don't we?
He climbed high
above the cross
to a greater mountain,
the kingdom of heaven.
And He arose,
He lives,
He ascended
to the highest heaven.
And He sat down
at the right hand
of the throne
of God Almighty.
And from there,
He reigns
as the true King.
Isaiah 43, 25.
I, even I,
am He
who blots out
your transgressions
for my own namesake.
I will not remember
your sins.
Because of His work,
Jesus Christ fulfilled
what God has promised
all along.
and even though
God is omniscient,
He's all-knowing,
He promises
that the work
of Christ,
it erases
our sin
from God's
memory,
so to speak.
It's the words
of Scripture.
Hebrews 10, 17,
God promises
your sins,
brothers and sisters
in Christ,
your sins
and lawless deeds.
God says,
I will remember
no more.
This is how great
was Christ's victory.
And His victory
transforms our memory.
If God doesn't remember
your sins
and mine,
you cannot
let those sins
and those past faults
continue to accuse you
and torment you.
God says,
I will not
let those sins
for which Christ died
be counted against you,
be imputed
against you anymore.
Your conscience
in Christ
is now freed
from the legal
weight
of these past sins.
Our memory
is to be
renewed
in Christ.
Let Christ
rewrite
your own memory
of what He has done
and what that means
for you
who are in Him.
We are now freed
to focus
our memory
on God's
faithfulness
rather than
our failures.
Some of you
have testified
how this is a work
God has done
in your life
recently
in the last few years
and it's such a gift,
isn't it?
We don't
approach God
being accused
of all of our failures.
We approach God
to fix our thoughts,
our memories,
and remembrance
on His great work
and His great faithfulness.
That's why we love
all of our hymns
but one of them
comes to mind
especially.
It's when Satan
tempts me
to despair
and tells me
of the guilt
within
our hearts condemning.
Upward
I look
and see Him
there
who made
an end
of all my sin
because my
sinless Savior
died,
Jesus Christ.
My soul
is now counted
free
for God
the just
is satisfied
to look on
Him
and pardon me.
Psalm 77
I will remember
the works
of the Lord.
Surely I will remember
your wonders
of old.
I will also
meditate
on all
your work
and talk
of your deeds.
Psalm 111
for
He has made
His wonderful
works
to be remembered.
The Lord
is gracious
and full
of compassion.
This is what
we remember.
This is what
we meditate on.
This is what
we put our eyes
upon over
and over
again as long
as our flesh
continues to
accuse us.
So army
of God
I pray that
by the power
of the Spirit
we will be
stirred up
with love
for God
as we remember
the valor
of King Jesus
on that mountain
where He did not
retreat for you
and me
and His kingdom
is coming.
It's coming
spiritually now
but it's coming
consummately
one day
and every
knee will bow
and every
tongue will
confess
and the host
of angels
armies
will follow
Him
the Lord
of hosts
and He
will rule
and His glory
will cover
the new heavens
the new earth
like the waters
cover the sea.
Let's pray
longing for this
great day
and trusting Him
by faith
every day
until then.
O Lord
mighty are
your works
and they're
to be remembered
you've preserved
them in Scripture
for us.
They prove
Lord again
and again
you are
gracious
and full
of compassion.
Please cause us
Lord to run
to the cross
of Jesus
the Mount
of Calvary
and find
refreshing again
for our souls
today Father.
we ask this
for your glory
for Christ's
sake alone.
Amen.