Lord, we are so thankful most of all for salvation, for Jesus down on the cross, for our sins and loving us when we were unlovable and when we were away from you, bringing us back to you. And Lord, we can just go on and on and on thanking you for all that You’ve done. And Lord, there are times we should do that. Lord, help us not to forget who you are and what You’ve done and help us to always keep that in the forefront of our mind. And Lord, we thank you for the temporal blessings. I thank you for this week and the things that You’ve brought by this week. And Lord, I thank you for the things that You’ve brought my way this year. But Lord, help us not to get bogged down on the temple things, but realize there’s so much more that You’ve brought our way. And the Lord, we thank you for it. And the Lord help us to pray. That would make us better Christians fit to serve you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Psalm 106, it says, Praise ye the Lord. That’s a good place to start. And I believe we did that tonight. And there’s two reasons God deserves our praise. He said, oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. How do you agree with that? He is good. Amen. And he’s good all the time, brother Gear, he would say, oh, give thanks unto Lord, for he is good for his mercy and do it forever. God’s good, god’s good to sinners, god’s good to me, he’s good to you. We are just sinners saved by the grace of God. God’s goodness towards the sinners could be considered mercy being better to us than we deserve. That is the theme of this psalm. We’re going to find out soon that there were a people of his that did not remember this. They got away from it. When we get away from it, there’s a price to pay for that louverse. Number two who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can show forth all his praise? It’s a question that he doesn’t answer because it’s really a question that can’t be answered. Who is fit to declare the goodness of God? Not a single one of us in here tonight as good as God has been to us, are we worthy to stand and declare all that God has done for us? It’s God’s righteousness. It’s his shed blood on the cross of Calvary that made me fit for heaven, that washed away my sins. It’s his mercy that has brought me here. It’s his goodness. And not all one of us can declare everything of who God is. Verse number three. Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doth righteousness at all times. The psalmist here is saying that this man is happy and blessed if he follows God through his life, brings praise to God, follows in god’s path for his life. Much like psalm one, blessed is a man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor citizen to see the scornful, nor I think I may have got it all mixed up. But this man that follows God is blessed and happy. We’re going to find out that that’s not the case. So what happens with the children of Israel because they forgot God? Verse four. Remember me, O Lord, with Thy favor, with the favor that Thou bears unto Thy people. O visit me with Thy salvation, that I may see the good of Thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Thy nation, that I may glory with Thine inheritance. So, verse one, we start out praise ye the Lord. O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good for his mercy and doth forever. And all God’s people could say amen to that, right? And then verse two, he says, who is worthy? Who can utter all that God is? And I tell you, when we get to heaven, we’ll have all of eternity to declare how good God is. And we’ll never be able to tell it all. I believe the scales will be rolled back from our minds and we’ll be able to see in all of God’s glory who he is and realize just how far gone we were. And without the veil of our minds, we’ll be able to see just what we were and where God brought us from and how good he is. And we still won’t be able to tell it all, but he gives us a warning. It’s like a warning. Verse three. He says, blessed are they that keep judgment, and that it’s. Conversely, otherwise a person that doesn’t follow the Lord is not happy, not blessed. But there’s got to be a personal application. Verse four. Remember me? Oh, Lord. He said, make it personal. And there’s a request on the Lord’s part. Say, Lord, remember me, visit me. But then he said, I’m going to make it personal to me, that I may see the good of Thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Thy nation, that I may glory without inheritance. God’s been good to all of us, but let’s make it personal. Realize that God’s been good to me. I’ve got my part to fulfill as well. And love Him because he first loved me. Verse six. This is the psalmist confession. We have sinned with our fathers. It’s easy, and many times we use it as an escape goat. I guess it’s easy to say how others have sinned, how wicked our country is. We all could find fault with our leaders, with others around us. It’s easy to point the finger at somebody. Jacob, point my finger at you. Find fault at somebody else. We’ll just use the pulpit mic tonight. I don’t know what’s going on with it. May not even need a mic. All right, so we’re on the pulpit mic now we’re good. OK. I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s easier to point fingers at somebody not Jacob and not take into account that we’re part of that as well, that we have a responsibility to that as well. He said, we have sinned, we have committed inequity. We have done wickedly. We can blame Washington DC all we want to, but we who know better have failed the Lord and sin against God. Our fathers understood not here’s where we’re going his listing of the sins of his people. He said, Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt. They remembered not the multitude of thy mercies, but provoked Him at the sea. Even at the Red Sea, when the children of Israel were in Egypt, they didn’t understand the wonders of miracles that God was doing. There was a time where you and I were in that place. We didn’t know what God was doing in our life. He gave us life through his word, and we trusted in Jesus Christ. We were saved. And then he gave us his spirit and it illuminated the Bible and the things that were going on around us. Then we realized, hey, God was directing me all along. That was still my choice. We’re not talking about whatever the Calvinists call it, that I’m going to be saved no matter what. I still had a choice in it. But God was directing my past, giving me opportunity after opportunity so that I could be saved if I’d respond to Him. And he was behind the scenes the whole time, but we didn’t realize it at the time. So you might you might I don’t know if it would be wrong or right, but you might. Can excuse the Israelites here because they didn’t understand what was going on. But I think the reason was their heart wasn’t after the Lord. Their heart wasn’t following the Lord. Nevertheless, he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his power, mighty power, to be known. I’m glad he saved me for his name’s sake. That was the only reason he saved me was for his name’s sake. It wasn’t for my goodness, but for his name’s sake. He rebuked the Red Sea also. Look at some of the things that he did. He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up. He dried up the Red Sea. So he led them through the depths as to the wilderness, and he saved them. He led them through the Red Sea. There’s there’s so much here. I don’t want to get bogged down. But he led them through, just like the sea, just like he led them through the wilderness. He saved them from the hand of Him that hated them. He delivered them and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. And the waters covered their enemies. There was not one of them left. He said not only did he deliver them from the enemies. He wiped them out. He took them out. They had much to be thankful for and praised God for. Look at verse twelve, and this is the climax of their reaction. Then believed they his words, they sang his praise. They had faith in His Word, and they rejoiced. They were praising him for his works. And that was probably the high watermark of their response back to the Lord. They had faith in His Word, they responded to his works by praising Him. But look what happened next. They soon forgot his works. They waited not for his counsel. We’ve remembered some things that God’s done for us tonight. Let’s be careful not to soon forget who God is, what he’s done for us, and what he’s going to do. I appreciate Brother Jim and several others mentioning what lies ahead for the Christian. There’s so much more that God’s got after this life is done. And Sister Rachel’s already entered into much of that. I believe there’s still some things that she hasn’t got to experience yet until we all get there to be with the Lord. But she is there with the Lord right now, rejoicing praising God. And what a blessing. Let’s not forget what God has done and is doing. Look, two things. They forgot his works and then they waited not for his counsel. They weren’t listening. There was a time when they believed his words. They were listening. They believed it. And then they praised Him for what he’d done. But then they forgot his works. They were no longer praising Him. They waited not for his counsel, they were no longer listening to Him. And I believe that started their downfall in their hearts, they turned from God and they said, I’m not going to heed his counsel anymore. And that’s a danger not just for our young people, that’s a danger for every age group. We get to the point where say, I’ve heard enough. I’ve heard enough sermons, I’ve heard enough messages, I know where I’m going, I know what I’m doing. We stopped listening to the Lord. We stopped following after our own heart or after somebody else’s design. And we forget what God has done. And here’s the downfall that results from forgetting God. They lusted exceedingly in the wilderness. They wanted something other than what God had for them. God provided for them. Didn’t God send them food and water? And it’s not God provided for us. God sent us food and God sent us dear meat. Amen. God sent us a blessing after blessing. I’ll tell you a story sometime that had to be God. I’d say it was at least a 200 yard shot, jeremy says like 15 yards. But somewhere in the middle of that, of him bounding and jumping and then shooting midair off hip and everything like that. That might be a little stretch. Yeah, ultra time, right? But in the middle of that, God sent it that way. God does things like that for us all the time. They lusted exceedingly in the winter. So let’s not say, Lord, you’ve been good to me, but I wish I had this instead of what you’ve given me. Be thankful for what God has given you. They were ungrateful. They tempted God in the desert. They complained and he gave them their request. And listen, here’s a warning in itself. He gave them their request, but there’s a butt with it. He sent leanness into their soul. Be careful, not just our young people, but everybody. Be careful what you wish for and what you pray for. God can’t answer that request, but it comes at a cost, at a great cost. And that cost was spiritual leanness. They didn’t have to walk with God that he wanted them to have. Many of them died in the wilderness. All but two over the age of 20 died in the wilderness. Their family was affected. It come at a great cost, but they got what they wanted. They envied Moses also in the camp. Envy comes when we go away. We forget God in the air and the Saint of the Lord. The earth open and swallowed up daith and covered up the company of a Byron, and a fire was kindled in the company. The flame burned up the wicked. They made a calf in horb and worship the molten image. You say, how in the world could God’s people who have seen miracles in Egypt, they saw the Red Sea crossing, and then they go and they make a golden calf out of a fire and say this is the God that brought us through the Red Sea. How do they go to that point? Well, their heart never was with the Lord and they forgot what he’d done and who he was. Here’s a warning don’t let your heart slip. Even as a child of God, even as a Christian, we’ve got to be careful not to allow our heart to wander from who God is and what he’s done, because then we will forget. We’ll get our minds so occupied and other things, we’ll forget what he’s done for us, where he’s brought us from. They change their glory verse 20 into the simultaneous of an oxidative grass. They forget God their savior. He says it again twice a second time, I think, for emphasis, which had done great things in Egypt, wondrous works in the land of Ham and terrible things by the Red Sea. He’s saying they were without excuse. And you and I, if we forget God, we’re without excuse. He’s done so much for us, for every single one of us. There is no reason for a child of God to get out of church, to go away from God. Even going through secular institutions where they hammer you and they hammer you and that there is no God. You know better. There is no reason whatsoever for anybody to take you out of the house of God away from God. We should know better. Therefore he said that he would destroy them had not Moses, his chosen, stood before him in the breach. That’s a message all in itself. But Moses stood in the breach praying on interceding on their behalf. Listen, our church family is praying one for another. We’re also praying for our lost loved ones. Lord, spare them one more time. Give them another opportunity. We’re interceding on their behalf and that is needed. That’s just as needed as praying one for another is standing in the gap, so to speak. Praying for our families that God would not destroy them. Give another opportunity to hear the gospel. Yea, they despise the pleasant land. What was the pleasant land? Was it not the promise, the promised land? The promise that God had given them? How did they despise the pleasant land? They hadn’t got there yet. That was the promise of God. But they despised it and that they weren’t living for that land they wanted. Right now we can do the same thing. We can despise the promise of God by not looking for heaven that God has given us. Not looking for Jesus to return, but living for right now. We’re despising that because we’re living for right now. Does that make sense? We’re not living for the world to come. We’re not living for the Lord we want right now. They believe not his word, but murmured in their tents and hearken nod into the voice of the Lord. Therefore he lifted up his hand against them to overthrow them in the wilderness. To overthrow throw their seat also among the nations and to scatter them in the lands. They joined themselves also in the bell peord and ate the sacrifices of the dead, going from bad to worse to even worse. Not only did they make it molten calf, but then they joined themselves to the idols of another of a heathen people. You say that would never happen to me, brother Eric. You’d be surprised how far you can go when you forget God if your heart’s not right with the Lord. Listen, you and I are just a step away from backsliding on God. We can backslide on God being faithful in the house of God. And many of us that are a little older can see in our own life how we’ve drifted away from God even in the middle of the midst of the church house. It’s not hard to do so let’s be careful to keep our heart where it needs to be. Thus they provoked him, the anger with their inventions and the plague breaking upon them. Then stood up Phineas and executed judgment. And so the plague was stayed. There’s another great message in and of itself. And I think Brother Isaac preach sat here. I don’t feel up here. Over in junior church somewhere. I’ve heard a message on that. And Phineas was standing up. He was interceding just like Moses did. And the plague was stayed. And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations forevermore. God bless Phineas for standing for what’s right, even when everybody else was doing wrong. Phineas stood up for what was right. And God was pleased with that. Verse 32 they angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes, because they provoked his spirits that he spake unadvisedly with his lips. And they just keep going. They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them. They disobeyed, but were mingled among the heathen and learned their works. And they served their idols which were a snare unto them. Yea, they sacrificed look at this they sacrificed their sons and their daughters and the devils. See, it would never happen to me. Look at our country that was founded on Christian principles by Godly men. And we have we not done that over the last 50, 60 years with abortion. We’ve sacrificed our sons and daughters of the devils and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed into the isles of Canaan. And the land was polluted with blood whole, nother message. But I believe America today is polluted with the blood of innocent lives. And I believe God has to judge this nation. And I believe that judgment is already here. Thus where they defiled with their own works. And when a hoarding with their own inventions, therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people in so much to the abort as own inheritance. God is a God of love, but he’s also a just God. And all that God had done for them, is it any wonder? It’s not a wonder that his wrath wasn’t kindled, but how long he suffered them, how long he was merciful to them. Look back over my life and how merciful God has been to me when he should have just taken me out of here. But he was merciful. He was longsuffering. The psalmist changed his gears here and look at verse number 41. And he gave them into the hand of the heathen. And they that hated them ruled over them. There’s consequences for sin. Their enemies also oppressed them and they were brought into subjection under their hand. That’s not what God intended. When we go away from God, we sent against God. We get far less than what God designed for us to have. Don’t go blaming God for the mess that we’re in. We brought that on ourselves. But that’s not what God intended. God designed the very best for them and they said, no, I’m going to go my own way. And because of that, they wound up in the mess that they were in many times that he delivered them. But they provoked Him with their counsel and were brought low for their iniquity. And I want you to look at verse 44 1st word is what. Nevertheless, he regarded their affliction when he heard their cry. The wonders of God’s love and mercy. I can’t understand it. I can’t explain it. I would have written them off a long time ago. God would have written me off a long time ago if it were me. But he regard their affliction when he heard their cry what a God we serve. The same is true today. When so many you may say there, you got this so and so is written off. Or I’m written off, I’ve gone too far. If you’re still alive, you may be under the judgment of God. But God is still regarding you. There’s still an opportunity for you to turn back to Him. That’s what God wanted from his children. That’s what he wants from us. He’s not here just to punish us. To punish us. I don’t discipline my children because I enjoy discipline. Contrary to popular belief. I don’t do it because I enjoy it. I do it so they will be corrected and do what’s right. And I want what’s best for them. God wants what’s best for us. He heard their cry. He remembered for them his covenant. I’m glad my salvation is not dependent side note, but not dependent upon me being faithful to Him. It’s between God the Father’s covenant with God the Son and that’s settled, that’s sealed. I can rest easy in that. But I’ve got a responsibility of falling after God or he’s going to chasten me and chastise me he remembered for them his covenant and repented according to the multitude of his mercies. And he made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives while they were in the chastening hand of God. God was still merciful to them while they were scattered among the enemy. God gave them in the favor for those that they were captive to. So just a quick summary the result of their failure. When they forgot God, they were ungrateful. They started lusting after things that the world had that they thought they were lacking. When they were following God, they tempted God. They were full of envy for the people God had chosen to use. They wanted that attention. Their worship began to change. Listen, all this is relevant for today. When we forget God, our worship will change. Our heart has already left the Lord. They forgot God in his works. They rejected God. They murmured and refused to listen to God. Verse 25 verse 28 they became idolaters. They provoked the man of God. They disobeyed the word of the Lord. They didn’t destroy the nations, they mingled. There was no separation. They shed innocent blood. They learned the works of the heathen because all because of that. One thing is their heart was not right with the Lord. They forgot the Lord. We’re just but a step from that. And we’re always just but a step from that. That’s why we got to watch that so carefully, so cautiously. They rebelled against the Lord persistently. But God was still merciful, still kind to him. Then the psalmist remembers the mercies of God. We just read through that, the multitude of his mercies. And then verse 47 he’s pleading with the Lord for delivery. He said, Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen to give thanks to Thy holy name and to triumph and Thy praise. Then he praises him. He says, Blesses be the Lord, God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. That all the people say Amen. Praise ye the Lord. Some quick lessons to learn from this. Number one god deserves my praise. The beginning of the psalm and the end of the psalm is about praising God. God deserves my praise, no matter my circumstances. Whether I’m on the mountaintop or in the valley, whether I’ve brought judgment upon myself or I’m going through the thick of things. As hard as it is, God is always good. His mercy is everlasting, and he’s worthy of my praise, regardless of my circumstances. My failure begins when I start forgetting God, when my heart begins to go away from Him. I start lusting after other things, start wanting things that God hasn’t given me. It’s a dangerous path thereafter. What’s the cost of failure? I remove God’s hand of protection from my life. Do we not see this? If you go back and study, you’ll see how God’s handed protection was lifted as they forgot God. I invite destruction in my life. I remove God’s blessing on my life. God might give me what I asked for, but it comes at a cost of spiritual leanness. Listen, I don’t know we have time to get into that. But I want what God wants for my life. I want to be as strong a Christian as I can be. And I feel God all the time. But he’s faithful. I don’t want to get what I’m asking for at a cost of my spiritual growth. Does that make sense? I become spiritually deficient. My decisions are no longer led by the Spirit of God, but by what I want. And that’s dangerous. My influence is no longer influencing people for Christ. But I’ll start working against Christ. It also affects my joy and my happiness. Remember, blessed are they that keep judgment and he that doth righteousness at all times. Isn’t it interesting that that verse is set aside from the rest of the psalm? They weren’t blessed and happy as they could be had they followed God. I’m failing to recognize the one who properly deserves my praise when I forget God. And I’m bringing in difficulties for those who follow after me, be it my children and grandchildren, cousins, family, people I work with, whatever it may be. So why should I not forget God? He’s faithful. He’s always faithful, who he is. I may not be faithful, but he is he will finish what he started. And I’m thankful for that, who he is and what he’s done. He’s been too good to me for me to forget what he’s done, being too good to all of us and what he has yet to do. One Corinthians 15 we’re going to get there in one of our studies here real soon. I’m itching to get there. Talks about the resurrection and what we’re all looking forward to. What absent from the body is present with the Lord. One of these days, though, that body that’s been laid in the grave is going to be resurrected and the soul and spirit that’s with the Lord will be reunited with that glorified body and things start to pick up. Amen. What a day that will be. And so what he has yet to do, that’s the blessed hope of the Lord’s return. And I was talking to Grandpa today. He called and was telling me about the consultation he had on Monday about his esophagus, and he got to talking, as he often does, about the Lord coming back and what a blessing that is. We were talking and he’s excited as I am, to see the Lord return. So let’s not forget, I believe that day is fast approaching. Let’s not forget who God is, what he’s done and what he has yet to do. We can get distracted, we can get disappointed, we can get down in the dumps. It was wonderful to be out in the woods with Brother Jeremy on Monday. Not at one time did we talk politics. I don’t believe, and I didn’t check the news. And that was a blessing. I didn’t hear any bad things happening in the world. It was just me, him, the Lord and the bear that we saw. And what a blessing that was. God’s good. Sometimes we need to get away from things and whether it’s in the woods or whatever it may be in the church house, there’s still a need for the church house. Just get away from the world, visit with the Lord and be reminded of what God has in store for us. Sister Alita gave us some coffee later on too, and helped warm us up. And that was a blessing to visit with her too. We didn’t offer her a bit. Angie had fixed some snacks and they were too good to to share. So next time, Angie, you have to fix extras. We could share with my mom. I’ll lead it. But God’s good. Amen. And let’s remember who God is. Let’s not forget. Just a step away. And that’s what I want us to remember. We’re just a step away. And how many times in my life has God been good to me? And I failed to give him the glory and the phrase and I would be ashamed to even start thinking of those times. And you would too. Let’s make a commitment tonight, especially this week, but going forward, Let’s remember how good God is, what he’s been to us. Okay, let’s stand with head, bows and eyes closed. What a wonderful service we’ve had tonight. We’ve given God the glory. When we leave here, let’s not forget what God’s done for us. Maybe the Lord spoke to your heart. You’d like to come and just kneel before altar again. Say, Lord, thank you for saving my soul. Thank you for all the things that you have done for me in my life. Help me never to forget what it is, who you are, what you’ve done, what you’re going to do. Lord, keep us centered on who you are.