Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2849
“He has made His wonderful works to be remembered: the LORRD is gracious and full of compassion. He has given meat unto them that fear Him: He will ever be mindful ofHis Covenant.” Psalm 111:4, 5.
GOD’S works are, of course, wonderful because they are His works, but they are not “a nine days’ wonder.” They are not intended to be admired for a little while and then to be forgotten. The Psalmist says, “He has made His wonderful works to be remembered.” I fear that we too often fail to keep in our memory the recollection of God’s exceeding goodness and that we allow the works of the Lord, as well as His mercies, to lie “forgotten in unthankfulness.” If it has been so in the past with any of us, let us, at the outset of our meditation, begin to chide ourselves for our forgetfulness and ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen our memories that we may remember the wonderful works of the Lord more than we have done.
Our subject is twofold. First, it is God’s design that His wonderful works should be remembered. And, secondly, it is our wisdom constantly to have those wonderful works in remembrance.
I. First then, I learn from our text that IT IS GOD’S DESIGN THAT HIS WONDERFUL WORKS SHOULD BE REMEMBERED.
He has ensured the carrying out of this design, for, first, the very greatness ofHis works prevents them from being forgotten. When God has come forth out of His secret places to work Redemption for His people with a high hand and an outstretched arm, He has worked such mighty marvels that all history has been made to ring with the tidings of them. Is it possible that Israel could ever forget what the Lord did in Egypt when He smote the hosts of their oppressors and brought forth His people with a great deliverance? Could they ever forget the wondrous scene at the Red Sea, when Pharaoh and all his army sank like lead in the surging waters that had stood upright, like massive walls, to make a way for the ransomed hosts to escape? There were other events, in the conquest of Canaan and in the life of David which must have been, through their extraordinary character, forever burned into the recollection of God’s ancient people and, truly, you and I can say of many of God’s works on our behalf, that they have been so great that it would be quite impossible for us to forget them! Do you remember your conversion, beloved Friend? Perhaps you were a great and open sinner and the change in you was so remarkable that you can easily remember the time when it occurred—and it would not be possible for Satan himself to make you doubt that such a change did happen to you! You remember, my Brother, when the load of your guilt was removed from your burdened heart? I can imagine that I could forget my own name and that I could forget my own sons, but I think I never could, under any circumstances, forget the day when I began to sing to my dear Lord and Savior—
“I will praise You every day Now Your anger’s turned away.”
It was such a marvelous thing—so amazing a thing in itself—so altogether extraordinary that it could never, never, never be forgotten! “He has made His wonderful works to be remembered” because they are so wonderful. Study deeply what Sovereign Grace has done to you, that you may see the greatness of the mercy and admire it, for, very much in proportion as you appraise the mercy of God at its proper value, will you be sure to have it fixed upon your memory all your life.
God made His wonderful works to be remembered, in the next place, because of the persons upon whom those works were worked. There is many a man who would soon forget all he hears about the favor of God because he is not conscious of his own need of it, but when a person is, spiritually, in an exceedingly anxious state of mind and heart, and God’s great mercy comes to him, he is sure to remember it. You remember that the Israelites were in Egypt as a nation of slaves, so that when God fetched them out, the serfs of the brick-kiln, the men who were driven to their daily tasks by the oppressors’ whips, the poor slaves who were denied even the straw with which to make the bricks—well, when they were Divinely delivered, at the very time when Pharaoh’s tyranny had become utterly unbearable, they could not possibly forget how they had been delivered! That day of their emancipation became the beginning of months to them and they numbered their years from it, for, to poor oppressed Israel, it was like life from the dead!
Some of us were mere wrecks of humanity—yawning chasms gaped beneath us and we thought that we would be speedily swallowed up. But we cried unto the Lord in our trouble and He brought us unto a quiet haven. Can we ever forget His wonderful works? We were sorely sick. Our soul abhorred all manner of food and we drew near to the gates of the grave—but the Good Physician came and restored us from all our sicknesses just when death stared us in the face. Beloved Brothers and Sisters, I feel certain that I can appeal to many of you and say that you were in such a plight as this when the Lord revealed Himself to you. Such was your distress and the abject condition in which you were, that, for you to forget what the Lord did for you would be such base ingratitude that I cannot believe that it is possible! Surely you feel that you must remember Him, and that sooner might a woman forget her sucking child than that you should forget the wonderful works which the Lord your God has worked for you!