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[0:00] Depending upon the Lord for help, I direct your attention to Isaiah 43, and reading verse 26.

[0:17] Isaiah 43, verse 26.

[0:30] Put me in remembrance, let us plead together. Declare thou that thou mayest be justified.

[0:48] Put me in remembrance, and let us plead together. Declare thou that thou mayest be justified.

[1:08] Oh, this is a wonderful chapter. And how we need much help to comprehend the contents of it.

[1:24] To understand it. We need the Holy Spirit so to teach us. But remember to whom the chapter is addressed.

[1:38] But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel.

[1:54] Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, and I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine.

[2:06] Now in verse 1, here, it shows that the Lord's people is set forth as he does see them.

[2:18] But it does not mean to say that we always see the same. Understand the same. Because it sets forth in this chapter that Israel has not always walked consistently with God or approved of his doings.

[2:47] It shows us in this chapter that the pathway of the Lord's people is not an easy pathway. And often it is made harder by their own behaviour.

[3:05] By their own foolishness. Hence, their conversation with regards to God has not always been accurate.

[3:20] It hasn't always been what it should be. It hasn't rendered the praise due unto God that is due.

[3:32] But rather often it has been that of murmuring and that of complaining. But surely it is seen in this chapter that the Lord will ever deal with his people.

[3:53] We may say, and I will deal with them when I meet them. But when we meet a person, we may be indeed completely overthrown and outmatched by them.

[4:09] But that's not so with God and his people. The Lord will deal with them. He will surely cause them to pass through the waters and pass through the fire.

[4:26] What for? But one thing he said, that he will be with thee when thou passest through the waters.

[4:38] I will be with thee and the river shall not overflow thee. And when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt.

[4:49] Those things that are before us. And we may fear that they will surely destroy us.

[5:00] Or be the end of us. But no. God has said here that he will be with us. In verse 4 he says, since thou was precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable and I have loved thee.

[5:22] Have we really been honourable unto God? And can we say, we have been honourable since thou was precious in my sight?

[5:35] We have been honourable as through the righteousness of his own dear son, Jesus Christ. He has never altered.

[5:47] He has never changed in his attitude towards his people. But I can't go through the whole chapter, can I?

[6:00] But I would draw your attention to the text and just a quick glance at the verse before. Because in that he said, I, even I am he, that blotteth out thy transgressions.

[6:21] So then, these people, whatever we might call them, they have been transgressors. Transgressors.

[6:32] And they always say, it is so easy, is it not, to point in the direction of other people's transgressions.

[6:46] And without acknowledging and seeing our own. Oh, the awful transgression of the pride of our heart.

[7:00] Friends, we don't know how proud we are until the Lord shows us. Oh, many might say, I am not proud.

[7:13] My friend, there's such a thing even as being proud of our humility. Pride in man is indeed the incubator where Satan lays the seeds of sin.

[7:32] Yes, it is indeed that propagator in which he loves to raise all manner of sin. I, even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions.

[7:49] All those things that thou hast raised up in resistance to me and to my will.

[8:01] He said, and will not remember thy sins. How wonderful that is. God, my friend, is able to forget our sins.

[8:19] In that sense, he doesn't remember them. You know, some people, they have no intention of forgetting.

[8:31] They love to raise the sins of others of every opportunity they can. What a mercy that is.

[8:43] That God doesn't do that with you. No, I will not remember thy sins. Ah, he doesn't say you're going to forget all your sins.

[8:58] But, oh, he goes on to say, put me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Oh, he gives to us this work to do.

[9:14] Put him in remembrance. Ah, that we might come before him. With that right sense of repentance and desiring for forgiveness.

[9:33] Put me in remembrance. Jesus has said, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

[9:52] Put me in remembrance. Therefore, he calls upon his people, even today, to put him in remembrance.

[10:07] To come before him. To confess their sins. And tell him all about them.

[10:20] You see, if he's God being God, and doesn't, and knows everything, what is the use? Friend, God's eternal mind, He does not hold these things against you forever.

[10:39] He did put me in remembrance. Let these things be gone into. Can you bear the thought?

[10:50] There are those things, I'm sure, with each one of us. Sins that we would not like to divulge to anyone, anything whatsoever.

[11:06] Actual sins. Sins that you have done. Sins in the words that you have spoken. You see, I hope they forget what I said.

[11:22] I hope nobody else heard that. Friend, there's one that heard it. Why heard everything. He not only hears what we say, he knows the spirit in which we said it in.

[11:42] We may say, I tried to, I was ever so nice about it. I was ever so kind, and I said it in a nice way. Well, that could be just mere window dressing, could it not?

[11:56] It must be maybe just a way in justifying ourselves. But my friend, God will be the judge. God will not seize all, and he knows all.

[12:11] You can't just cover things over like that. He said, He said, He said, Put me in remembrance. Confess those sins, which are so many before me.

[12:27] Why? let us plead together. Oh, I say, what a word is that?

[12:40] When the Lord begins to plead with us, and we begin to plead with him. When we're dead in trespasses and sins, is there not such a thing as a solemn deaf ear that we possess, that though he pleads with us, we haven't pleaded with him.

[13:10] We haven't put him in remembrance. But we've chose to forget those things. It may be we've hoped that we can bury our head in the suns, and though because we cannot see other people, we shall not be seen.

[13:31] But I say, Oh, how God comes to Israel of old. I am he that blotted out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

[13:53] And if God, my friend, in his infinite mercy, has blotted out your transgressions, and in such a way, I will not remember them.

[14:06] Even as in another place, he said, as far as the east is from the west, so far hath, he has removed our transgressions from us.

[14:20] Such a distance, so far, so far that it cannot be measured. Such indeed, he explains, and shows forth to us his wonderful mercy and forgiving love.

[14:40] So he shows forth to us the power of his all-atoning blood, which alone can cleanse our sins.

[14:52] O I say, put me in remembrance. O I, what a great mercy, is the one here today under the sense of guilt and shame.

[15:09] O remember me, Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people. that was the cry of the psalmist.

[15:23] And so many people have to say that the favour that the Lord beareth unto his people is to heap upon them joy, happiness, ease, and comfort, and not have a care in the world.

[15:45] But I don't think that is the exact meaning at all. No. Put me in remembrance.

[15:57] Yes, to come and to confess our sins before him. Let us plead together.

[16:08] I think that's a wonderful word, isn't it? You remember the construction of the Levitical priesthood was the priest as the Lord's servant should stand and offer the sacrifices for the sins of the people.

[16:33] He should be the representative of the people. But surely here it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[16:46] And he is the great representative of the people. Lord, remember me with the favour that thou beareth unto thy people.

[17:03] Oh, pleading with God fearing lest he should not only forget our sins but that he might forget his mercy.

[17:14] And what a solemn thing that would be. Lest he should forget his pardon and had forgiven our sins of the past.

[17:28] Fearing that they may be all resurrected and brought before us. O let us plead together to come to God in this matter to make this deeper and fuller inquiry.

[17:50] Lord, when thou didst suffer, bleed and die upon Calvary for sin, was it my sin?

[18:03] God, by the Holy Spirit, brings us into this matter in a personal way. Put me in remembrance.

[18:16] You say, dare I? Friends, you have to go unto Jesus because you've got no other to go to.

[18:27] And thank God for that, that you've got no other to go to. You may have gone to men or hoped by men that you would be so blessed and favoured.

[18:45] Ah, my friend, they've all indeed been blank checks to you. They indeed, they haven't carried, have they?

[18:57] They proved to be worthless. But, oh, you stand before almighty God, and I stand a bigger bankrupt than ever before.

[19:15] Put me in remembrance. Put me in remembrance remembrance of that wonderful covenant of grace and all that I have spoken concerning the people.

[19:31] You might have forgotten the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, the words of almighty God. When I see the blood, I will pass over you.

[19:47] Oh, they put in remembrance that it is comfort to be drawn here. There indeed is peace to be found here because, oh, it is that blood, atoning blood, that takes away our sin and gives us peace with God.

[20:10] God. We cannot be, can we, at peace with God all the time we regard iniquity within our heart.

[20:24] No. If thou regardest iniquity within thy heart, I will not hear thee. I will not hear thee. Such words, such teaching, it is not thought a lot of today, is treated perhaps as if it does not matter, but surely it does matter very much.

[20:53] Put me in remembrance. Lord, there is a knocker at thy door. Thou have said, I am the door and another place knock and it shall be opened unto you.

[21:15] Put me in remembrance. You may come to that door full of fear and full of dread.

[21:27] Say, but how can I knock at mercy's door? Just look at me. and see my state and my condition.

[21:42] One look at me and it is obvious what I am. Anybody can see it. Those that pass by must behold it.

[21:55] You come like the hymn writer. Oh Lord, myself, I can hardly bear this wretched heart of mine.

[22:07] How evil then it must appear to those pure eyes of thine. He said, put me in remembrance.

[22:19] Stretch forth thy hand and knock at mercy's door. door. But what shall I say? Often speaking is not required, is it?

[22:37] Friends, it is that coming by that precious face that he gives to you, believing that this is mercy's door, and believing that he does know, and he does understand, put me in remembrance.

[22:59] Lord, I am still a poor and needy sinner. Lord, I still indeed am in need of thy mercy.

[23:12] Lord, I am still hungering and thirsting after thy righteousness. Friends, if some of the family do not appear at the meal table, you assume they are not hungry, you assume they have other things to do, or have been eating elsewhere.

[23:40] But friends, put me in remembrance by being there, by being at the house of God, by being there as a poor beggar, seeking for a crumb of mercy, put me in remembrance.

[24:00] Yes, a coming and making a, presenting ourselves before God, put me in remembrance.

[24:11] Jesus brings this forth, does he not, in his parable of the two men that went up to the house of God to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a publican.

[24:34] Friends, he didn't, the Pharisee didn't put God in remembrance of his love and his mercy whatsoever. He didn't put indeed God in remembrance of his own need because he didn't know he got a need.

[24:53] Friends, he was saturated with his self-importance and a blind conceit. I thank God I am not as other men are, or even as this publican.

[25:10] No, I do this and I do that. You must be very well satisfied with me. Put me in remembrance.

[25:23] But that poor man that stood afar off and could only but beat upon his breast and say, God, be merciful to me a sinner.

[25:37] Friend, he need put God in remembrance. What of his mercy? Mercy. Is there a sweeter subject in the gospel than the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ?

[25:58] Some might say, and why is it so sweet a subject? Friend, if you're not guilty, you'll see no sweetness in the subject.

[26:15] But I say, if you know what it is to be guilty and feel to be guilty, and the guilt doesn't go away, but rather increases, put me in hold, and what does it contain?

[26:34] Why? Mercy to pardon, to forgive. Mercy to cleanse away all my sin.

[26:49] Oh, mercy, Lord, to smile upon me once again, put me in remembrance. remembrance. Oh, that thou hast said to this man I will look, even unto him with a broken heart, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembles at my word.

[27:17] Friend, where the coming sinner expects the frown of God, put me in remembrance. remembrance. Lord, I present myself as I am.

[27:32] Oh, one blissful smile, though so sinful, yet through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, he smiles with approval upon us, because we have put him in remembrance remembrance, by presenting ourselves before him, just as we are.

[28:02] Oh, put me in remembrance. What has time been unto us? How often we have thought, well, within a few years or so, I will do this, or I will do that.

[28:21] but now you put God in remembrance, saying, Lord, the time is short, eternity is near.

[28:34] But what is to be put into remembrance? Lord, according to thy just and holy law, I am a guilty, a wretched sinner, and if thou, Lord, does deal with me as I deserve, then surely I shall be cast out of thy sight through a never ending eternity.

[29:05] Put me in remembrance. Lord, there's no one else but thee can help me. There's no one else but thee can do me good.

[29:19] Put me in remembrance. What a mercy if God has brought us here to remind him of this truth.

[29:32] If his mercy should fail me, then I am lost and lost forever. But, friend, can we point to anywhere in scripture where God's mercy has been withheld, where God's mercy has been rejected.

[29:58] Not so, my friend. His mercy is forever sure, isn't it? Put me in remembrance.

[30:13] We may well have thought that we were not too bad a sinner. Yes, we've spoken a few words that have been unacceptable to thee.

[30:30] We may have taken a few things that do not belong to us. Or, we may have told a few white lies I'm speaking now, my friends, in the foolish thinking of poor mankind.

[30:48] But now, we are brought to discover how to steal one small thing is as equally as bad as stealing a million pounds.

[31:05] Speaking one evil swear, word is as bad as those who blackguard all their life long to take to commit adultery by looking upon another is as bad as the actual act of it because it's taken place in my heart.

[31:36] Oh, the depth of sin. You know, men, I've heard men boast, one man wrote lately, the depth of his ministry was deeper than all others.

[31:52] What is he really talking about? Does he know anything about it? My friend, the depth of teaching sin is the work of the Spirit and whereby, my friends, we are brought to put him in remembrance.

[32:10] Lord, only thou canst understand this. Lord, only thou canst see sin as it really, really is.

[32:21] These are the deep things of God and these are the deep things of God, as William Wellman puts it, oh yes, some may not approve of me using that name, but I believe that dear man is in heaven now.

[32:42] But my friend, remember this, what he said, the deep things of God in his mercy, in his mercy.

[32:53] Friends, as deep as we've sinned, his mercy is as deep. And he is able to resurrect and rise up all from the depths of sin, where no one else would come or dare to tread.

[33:12] Friend, they had no power. They had no power. There'd be no power in mercy but for the shedding of the precious blood of Jesus Christ, would they?

[33:28] For tell me what else indeed can God be satisfied with? His mercy in his own dear Son, Jesus Christ.

[33:44] For this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. This is my beloved Son who was ever with me from the beginning of the world.

[34:02] But oh, by the power of God has been brought into this world through the Virgin Mary God created him and gave him a living soul and a living body that he might bleed and suffer and die in the place instead of poor needy sinners.

[34:31] Oh, let us put me in remembrance. Let us play together. Lord, I would not forget this.

[34:42] I would not, I would have thee remember it on my behalf. Lord, I cannot do with half forgiveness.

[34:54] I cannot do with half atonement because the other half I can never make up myself in other words you need a forgiveness that is a hundred percent forgiveness.

[35:15] You need indeed for him to come in the fullness of the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as the apostle Paul wrote to the Romans when I come again I will come in the fullness as a wonderful word isn't it?

[35:42] Put me in remembrance of the fullness of the gospel not a ninety-nine and a third percent of it but all of it friends put me in remembrance oh did not the hymn might perhaps sum it up better for us than we can ourselves nothing in my hand I bring simply till thy cross I cling yes oh put me in remembrance the

[36:47] Lord has waited that he might be gracious and why is it he waits to be gracious because it is we that have kept him at a waiting stand by our stubbornness our resistance oh yes hoping that we one day will get a little better we shall recover from the fall but the hymn writer puts it like this if you hurry till you're better you'll never come at all and that is true isn't it you say but I've left it so long ah my friend we may have left it so long but the Holy Spirit does not leave it to light put me in remembrance thou art able to tell me indeed what thou hast been doing what thou didst think put me in remembrance what we think and what we know are two different things because men think and their minds as being depraved they lead them astray and they well I thought it would be like this listen

[38:33] God indeed puts his hands upon us immediately and says no my thoughts are not your thoughts or my ways your ways saith the Lord for as the rain cometh down from heaven and the snow upon the earth he speaks and says it does not return the same way as it came but it does accomplish the thing for what it is said so does my word and it will not be in the way that you thought but we can rest assured of this it will accomplish this all to make us sick of self and fond of him how fond of him are you there is a question for us to mull over this day how fond are we of Jesus us friend if the Lord

[39:51] Jesus Christ loves us we shall indeed be exceedingly fond of him why yes put me in remembrance the hymn writer comes there doesn't think do I love the Lord or no often it causes anxious thought am I his or am I not you say who can answer these questions for me you say nobody can and I can't answer it myself but friend there is one that can answer those questions for you put me in remembrance let us plead together that thou mayest be justified not that thou mightest be condemned no it doesn't say that that thou mightest be justified this is the way that I indeed will work this is the way indeed that

[41:18] I bring a poor sinner to me for he said he that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out I like that word in no wise cast in other words whatever the state whatever the condition I've heard of one in recent days who has entered into a most heinous sin and one of the family has said there's no hope for that soul whatsoever he's beyond redemption not so my friend not so he says unto the uttermost that is further than any man can begin to thank yes indeed further than they can thank bless his dear name he says put me in remembrance wherein have I said

[42:37] I will save and save no further where indeed have I laid down a boundary by to which I will not redeem a poor sinner there is but one sin in the word of God which says it cannot be forgiven and that is the sin against the Holy Ghost you may be tempted that you have sinned against the Holy Ghost friend if you were tempted if you sinned against the Holy Ghost you would be dead spiritually and therefore these things would be of no care or concern unto you no not a little bit therefore surely the very fact that the

[43:37] Holy Spirit is working in me still you have to come before God and say if it be so why am I thus my friend because the power of the Holy Spirit is so working in your heart yes therefore surely there's one sin you have been mercifully kept from and that is against the Holy Ghost friend I believe there is a sin against the Holy Ghost I believe I've heard it and witnessed where that is so how many like the Sadducees against the Holy Ghost believe there is no resurrection no deny the power of almighty

[44:40]  God but that's not so with these men of Israel and Jacob for he says put me in remembrance remembrance if you're dead you could not put God in remembrance sometimes we might say to a person I'll talk to you about this matter someone else I'll put you in remembrance of this or that but if they were dead they wouldn't be able to say such things as that would they know the very fact that you are not dead you have to come just as you are and without one plea God be merciful to me Amen