Title: I Will Not Forget You!

Series: Isaiah

Text: Isaiah 49: 13-17

Date: December 2, 2012

Place: SGBC, New Jersey

Isaiah 49 declares the good news of our successful Savior the Lord Jesus Christ. It tells that Christ came and finished the work of perfecting the elect of God forever.

Verse 8 says God has raised Christ from the dead and given him a Covenant of the people-his elect. Believer, get that! Christ is our Covenant!

For all who believe, Christ is the fulfillment of all our covenant responsibilities to God for us: our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
Christ is God’s covenant to us that we are accepted of holy God—as accepted, as delighted in, as righteous and holy as God’s own Son.

Verse 9 declares Christ is our Covenant Liberator, “That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves.” He came to us in our prison of spiritual sin and death. By his Word he gave us life, faith, repentance, made us partakers of the divine nature and set us free into eternal life.

Verse 9-12 declares Christ is our Covenant Shepherd. As we make the pilgrimage to our heavenly city:

He assures us he is our provision: v9: They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst;
He assures us he is our Shield and Defender: v10: neither shall the heat nor sun smite them:
He assures us he shall give us Refreshment by his Spirit:v10: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.
He assures us every mountain of trial, are his mountains, listen to what he does for us:v11 And I will make all my mountains a way, and my high-ways shall be exalted.
He assures us of fellowship with those he calls by his grace:12 Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.

We rejoice with heaven and earth in Christ our Victorious King and Savior:

Isaiah 49: 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.

1. The Lord has comforted his people: believer, our warfare is accomplished, our iniquity is pardoned: we have received of the LORD’S hand double for all our sins: think how bad our sin is—now multiply that double, that how much the Lord has given us: not only justified, but made eternally, unchangeably righteousness in Christ.

2. And the Lord will have mercy upon his afflicted. Have you tasted the Lord’s mercy once—then be assured the Lord will have mercy upon us in all our affliction—we are HIS afflicted

YET, even after all this free, sovereign, irresistible full provision of grace which God has given us in his Son, after hearing him tell us to rejoice, this is so often our sad tendency:

Isaiah 49: 14: But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.

Zion, the church of God, you believer in particular, we are still in this body of flesh.
We see, but we see with dim vision
We discern, but we judge things with feeble, feeble sense

Too often in the hard trials of this life, and even in the not so hard trials, by simply looking in the wrong direction, at us rather than Christ, even for reasons we can’t even put our finger on, though we would never say it audibly, our doubtful hearts cry out,

“The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.”

Title and Proposition: My title is also the one thing I want you and me to get settled in our hearts. God says to you believer, I WILL NOT FORGET YOU! This is the Lord Jesus speaking to you and me who believe: Isaiah 49: 15: Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. 16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. 17 Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.

I. CHRIST’S REDEEMED CHILD IS AS PRECIOUS TO HIM AS A NEWBORN BABE IS TO HER MOTHER--Isaiah 49: 15: Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? (see how he makes the comparison of his child to a newborn baby)

A. You that are true believers have been born of God, of his incorruptible Seed. Now, consider this relationship and this union between you and your God:

1. He is your Father and you are his child. John couldn’t get over that!

1 John 3:1: Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God…2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

2. Christ is our Everlasting Father.

Our first father was Adam—he was cruel to us, we died in him, he cast us out. But Adam is not the everlasting father of God’s elect.
God predestinated his children unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself
Christ is our Everlasting Father!

Application:Now, brethren, will the Lord cast away his own child?

Can God the Father be indifferent what God the Son desires? Can our great Savior be indifferent to what God the Father desires? Can God the Holy Spirit deny himself.

The will of each person in the Godhead is one—the salvation of his elect children.
So our God and Fathercannot be indifferent to his child without being indifferent to his own holy character.

I Samuel 12:22: The Lord will not forsake you, for his name’s sake for it pleased the Lord to make you his people.

B. We care for our children and we are evil. We don’t stand by and see our child suffer without coming to their aid.

How much more shall our Father which is in heaven continually care for his child in this earth!
He is not a man that he should lie. It would be no gain for him to tell us he will keep us then betray our trust.

1. By his power and grace, he has made us willingto put all our trust in him.

I trust God to keep me even when I’m cold and don’t trust him. He will not betray our trust.

Isaiah 26: 3: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

Illustration: Remember when he first made you to know he saved you? You felt like we all did last night watching these two love-birds standing up here together.

In your heart you danced like nobody was watching—like Joe last night at the reception! Nothing has changed with his love for his child. “The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee”;

II. GOD’S LOVE FOR HIS CHILD IS UNCONDITIONAL—THE ONLY UNCONDITIONAL LOVE THERE IS—V15: yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

A mother will forget her newborn child because you and I love conditionally. We like to think we love unconditionally but we don’t.God does.

A. The Lord does not love all men—if he did, and some men perish in unbelief anyway, then what would the love of God have to do with salvation?

Psalms 11:5:…the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

Romans 9: 13:…Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

2. But those he loves, he loves without any condition in us. When he chose and created his elect in Christ before he ever created the world, the cause was all in him, not in us:

Deuteronomy 7:7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people;…8 But because the LORD loved you,…

3. If he was going to reject us, he had every reason from eternity, because he knew what we wouldbe.

Our sin did not surprise him.
He foresaw the hardness of our hearts
He foresaw our disposition

If he was going to reject you, he would have never have chosen you in the first place. yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

B. We think how awful it is for a mother to abandon her newborn child. But that is what happened to us by our first birth.

1. Even you who were well-cared for by your mother, truth is, in your sins, you were just like an abandoned baby—yet God continued to love his elect though we were nothing but sin.

Ezekiel 16: 3:…Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite. 4: And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. 5: None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. 6: And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

Application:Believer, when you simply have no assurance, when you feel forgotten and forsaken, remember this: if nothing about us made him love us in the first place then nothing about us can make him stop loving us—his love is unconditional love.

Isaiah 43:4: Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.

“Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fearhim.”

III. HERE IS THE BEST THING TO THINK ON, CHRIST WENT TO THE CROSS FOR US—v16: Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands;

Illustration: Imagine spending everything you could spend, preparing something extra special for someone you love, to show them the depths of your love for them. Then that one starts saying, ‘I’m just not sure that you love me.” You would think, after all I have done for you, you still think that about me!

A. Just think of what Christ has done for you, believer?

1. He took our nature, veiled himself in human flesh, no reputation and endured a contradiction of sinners against himself.

Illustration: Driving in Trenton!

Hebrews 12: 3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 4: Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

2. He was tempted inall points like as you are in order to know, as a Man,exactly how your infirmities feel so that he can comfort us like no other.

Illustration: A friend hurts we try to let them know we understand and hurt with them. But we just can’t comfort them.

But Christ can. He experienced everything we experience as a Man so that he is not only God with the power to comfort, he is a Man who knows our suffering by experience--v4 Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: YET surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.[that’s a word for you and me Larry when we get down]

3. But above all, he suffered to satisfy divine justice in our place brethren and he succeeded!

The name of his elect was written in his book before the foundation of the world. But he went to the cross and has engraven your name upon the palms ofhis hand?

When you feel your assurance wavering, don’t look to yourself, instead:

Go to Gethsemane’s garden, and see him there sweating great drops of blood for you.

Then go to Pilate’s Hall and see him give his back to the smitters, giving them permission to scourge him.

Then go to the cross and see him made sin, see him bearing all our sins in his own body on the tree, see him bearing the justice of God for your sins

Then go to the empty tomb and see that you are not there because he is not there!

Then go to the right hand of the Father and see him seated beside the everlasting smile of his Father—and see that right there, right now, is where you are!

Then Thomas “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.”

Then hear him speak here in our text to you, “My dear child, do you think I bore all this for you and now I would dare forget you?”

“Your sins and iniquities?”—yes, I will forget those,“I remember them no more.”But you, you dear child, I will not forget. I have graven you on the palms of my hands.

Believer, can you look at those nail-pierced hands and really believe that he isindifferent to you? Do you think Christ came and did all that for us, but now is indifferent to us?

Colossians 3: 1: If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

IV. REMEMBER THIS, OUR ASSURANCE IS NOT WHAT SAVES US—HE DOES!--V16: thy walls are continually before me. 17 Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.

A. thy walls are continually before me.

1. His children are living stones which he builds together to make up his whole house. If one is missing his body is not complete! He shall call and shall keep each of his children because his completion depends upon it, as much as ours depends upon him.

B. He will draw all his children to himself and join them with you--Thy children shall make haste;

C. He will make our foes to flee--thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.

Get this setteled: Christ says, I WILL NOT FORGET YOU!

Were our acceptance with God determined by the quality of our faith, we would certainly perish. But thanks be to God, our acceptance is in the object of our faith-Christ Jesus!He has spent too much on his work to stop now.

Application: Believer, look away from yourself,

away from your doubting and away from your not doubting,

away from your confidence and away from your lack of confidence.

Look to Christ and leave all in his hands.

CHRIST IS OUR COVENANT

All Christ’s virtues are yours: Christ is GOD’S COVENANT TO YOU AND CHRIST IS YOUR COVENANT TO GOD.

WE ARE ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED. AND THE GIFTS AND CALLING OF GOD ARE WITHOUT REPENTENCE!

CHRIST SAYS, “I WILL NOT FORGET YOU!”

Take care of Joe and Abby!

We love you and thank you for your stance for our Redeemer in this place.

Amen!