Lest We Forget

[0:00] But if we could, with the Lord's help and the Lord's enabling this afternoon, if we could turn back to that portion of scripture that we read, Deuteronomy chapter 6, and if we read again at verse 10.

[0:18] And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, with great and good cities that you do not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, and when you eat and are full, then take care, lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Eden.

[0:48] Out of the house of slavery. But particularly the words of verse 12, take care, lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

[1:03] Now on a day like today, a day which is known throughout our nation as Remembrance Sunday, we remember those who lost their lives in the horrors of war, both past and present.

[1:19] And with remembrance services taking place up and down our country, a phrase which is commonly used is the phrase, lest we forget.

[1:30] Lest we forget. And this phrase, it comes from a hymn, it's in your intimations, the hymn called Recessional. And it was written by a man called Joseph Rudyard Kipling in 1897.

[1:45] And the emphasis that Kipling wanted to have when writing his hymn, it was that we don't forget the Lord in all our victories. Kipling wanted to stress to Britain, his home nation.

[1:59] He wanted to stress to us the importance of acknowledging the true source of our success. And we can see that by reading just the opening verse of the hymn, because he says, God of our fathers known of old, Lord of our far-flung battle line, beneath whose awful hand we hold, dominion over palm and pine.

[2:18] Lord God of hosts be with us yet, lest we forget, lest we forget. But what many people don't know about Kipling's hymn is that the phrase, lest we forget, it actually came from this passage in Deuteronomy chapter 6.

[2:36] Because Kipling based his inspiration for his hymn upon the Lord's command to the children of Israel, take care, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

[2:51] Now, when the Israelites were standing on the banks of the river Jordan, they were getting ready to cross over into the promised land. And it was then that Moses told the Israelites about all the blessings and benefits that they were going to receive once they crossed over into the promised land.

[3:10] But before they crossed over the river Jordan, in order to receive their inheritance, the Lord urged the Israelites not to forget what the Lord had done for them.

[3:21] And in a similar vein, Kipling was urging the British people not to forget the true source of their success. Because the true source of their success for the Israelites when they were entering the promised land, the source of their success was the Lord.

[3:37] And the true source of success for the British people during times of war, it was to be attributed, yes, to the British army by the help and the enabling of the Lord God of hosts.

[3:49] As Kipling said, Lord God of hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget, lest we forget. And Kipling's choice of the title, Lord God of hosts, it's certainly fitting with the theme of war.

[4:05] Because as I mentioned, the Lord God of hosts, it literally means the Lord of the armies. And that's what he's saying, Lord God of hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget, lest we forget.

[4:18] And this morning, I'd like us just to consider this passage, the passage that inspired Kipling to write and compose his famous hymn. And I'd like us to be reminded, like Kipling was and like the Israelites were, I'd like us to be reminded that whatever we face in life, whether it's illness or heartache or loss or even death itself, whatever we face, we should never forget that our only source of help and comfort and grace is the Lord God of hosts.

[4:52] And our prayer should be, Lord God of hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget, lest we forget. And with this in mind, I'd like us to see that there were three things that Moses doesn't want the Israelites to forget.

[5:09] Three things that he doesn't want them to forget. Because Moses didn't want the Israelites to forget the command to Israel, the caution for Israel, and the children of Israel.

[5:21] So they're the three things, the command to Israel, the caution for Israel, and the children of Israel. So if we look first of all at the command to Israel, the command to Israel, look again at verse 1.

[5:34] Verse 1 of chapter 6. He says, Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you're going over to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son, and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.

[5:59] Now whenever we come to consider a passage from the book of Deuteronomy, we have to think of the book of Deuteronomy like a photo album. And I'm sure we're all familiar with the concept of a photo album, whether we're the kind of person who likes to have the hard copy of all the printed photos, and they're all bound in this nice photo album.

[6:21] Or maybe you're the kind of person who has lots of photos, and they're all stored on a memory card, either in your digital camera, or on your phone, or on the computer. We all have photo albums.

[6:33] And we all have these collections of photos that have captured those special moments in our lives. And when you get the opportunity, if it ever arises, and you get to look at all these photos in your photo album, it's always nice to remember those occasions in the past.

[6:50] And it's good to think about those maybe who were once with us, who are no longer with us. And you know, it's good to look back. But it's only good to look back if looking back helps us to move forward.

[7:06] And that was the purpose of the book of Deuteronomy. The book of Deuteronomy is all about looking back in order to move forward. Because when we come to the book of Deuteronomy, as we said, we find the Israelites, they're gathered together on the banks of the River Jordan.

[7:24] And they have been redeemed. They've been brought out of slavery in Egypt. They crossed the Red Sea. The Red Sea parted for them. They crossed through it. And they were traveling through the wilderness for 40 years.

[7:35] And now the Israelites, they're standing on the banks of the River Jordan. They're on the border of the Promised Land. They're just ready to cross into the land of Canaan, into the land of promise.

[7:47] But before the Israelites can cross the River Jordan, the Lord commands Moses to speak to the Israelites. And so Moses, he calls them all together to congregate together.

[7:59] And he stands before them all. And about that time, by that time, there was about two million Israelites. And so beside the banks of the River Jordan, Moses preaches to them.

[8:10] He addresses the Israelites. And Moses reminds the Israelites about all that the Lord has done for them throughout the past 40 years. Moses calls the Israelites to look back in order to move forward.

[8:27] And the book of Deuteronomy, you could say it's Moses' sermon. It's a speech to the Israelites in which Moses recounts all the things that happened in the past throughout their wilderness journey.

[8:40] And that's why we have to think of the book of Deuteronomy like this photo album. Because in his speech to the Israelites, Moses, you could say he opens up the photo album. And he walks the Israelites through all these milestone events in their experience that took place throughout the wilderness journey.

[8:59] And the purpose in doing this is so that when the Israelites cross over into the promised land, when they go through the River Jordan into the promised land, it's so that they will not forget the Lord.

[9:13] Moses reminds the Israelites, lest they forget. And it's interesting that that phrase, lest you forget, it's repeated throughout the book of Deuteronomy.

[9:26] Because that's Moses' purpose in giving his speech. He doesn't want the Israelites to forget the Lord. The Lord who brought them out of Egypt. The Lord who brought them through the Red Sea.

[9:36] The Lord who brought them through 40 years in the wilderness. He doesn't want them to forget the Lord. And so when we come to chapter 6 here, we see that Moses is reminding the Israelites about the greatest commandment.

[9:53] And he reminds them, lest they forget. And this is what he says in verse 3. He says, Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you in a land flowing with milk and honey.

[10:12] And he says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

[10:26] Moses reminds the Israelites that before they move forward into the promised land, they are to have this singular love for the Lord. They're not to have any other loves.

[10:37] They're not to have any other gods. They're not to worship any other idols. Because they are to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, and might. They are to have this singular love for the Lord.

[10:51] Because the Lord, as it says in verse 4, The Lord is one God. He is one. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God. The Lord is one. Now those words of verse 4, That's the confession of faith of a Jew.

[11:08] It's often referred to as the Shema, which means to hear. And for the Jew, the Shema, it is the heart of the Torah. It's the key to understanding God's law.

[11:19] Because the Jews, they believe that the way to keep God's law is to confess that there is no other God except the Lord. And this confession in verse 4, it's still recited every morning and every evening by devout Jews all over the world.

[11:36] Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God. The Lord is one. And you know, this confession of faith, it's considered to be so important to the Jews. That Jewish boys, they are required to memorize the verse and it's to be their first words when they speak.

[11:53] Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God. The Lord is one. But many Jews, they also have the Shema. They desire to have the Shema as the last words they ever speak in this world.

[12:04] And so when they're dying, when a Jew is dying, they're often found repeating these words. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God. The Lord is one. But you know, even though we can't fully appreciate the preciousness of the Shema to a Jew, we have to understand that the Shema is a statement which characterizes the Jews.

[12:25] It's their confession of faith. It expresses who they are and what they are like as the Lord's people. Because in the Shema, the Israelites, they're not only confessing that the Lord is one and that the Lord alone is God, they're also asserting that there is no other God besides the Lord.

[12:44] And that's what distinguished the Israelites from all the other nations. Because all the other nations that surrounded Israel, they all worshipped other gods and bowed down to many, many idols.

[12:58] And this is why Moses is reminding the Israelites about the greatest commandment. Because the Shema was not only a profession to everyone else, that the Israelites only worshipped the Lord.

[13:09] It was also a promise. A promise that they would remain faithful to the Lord and only serve Him all the days of their life. And Moses had to remind the Israelites of their profession and their promise because as soon as they crossed over the River Jordan into the promised land, they would be surrounded by temptation.

[13:31] They would be surrounded by the temptation to worship other gods and to just live like the world and do as they please. But reminding them of the greatest commandment, Moses was saying, put the Lord first in your life.

[13:48] Don't just make the Lord a sideline in your life. Don't make worshipping the Lord a thing you do as part of your life. Make worshipping the Lord the priority in your life.

[14:01] Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. Make living for the Lord affect every area of your life. Make living for the Lord affect your lifestyle, your attitude, your way of life and your worldview.

[14:15] Because that's your profession, Moses was saying. That's what you have promised to do as the Lord's people. And you know, we can take this to ourselves, can't we?

[14:28] Because as Christians, we need to be reminded about the greatest commandment to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. We need to be reminded of what it is we are professing as Christians.

[14:43] That we are professing to love Jesus Christ because he first loved us. And we need to be reminded of what it is we are promising in our profession that we will seek to remain faithful to the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly all the days of our life.

[15:02] And we need to be reminded of what it is we have committed ourselves to lest we forget. Because like the Israelites, when they were confronted by temptation and when the world gets a foothold, we're so quick to forgetting.

[15:20] And you know, this is why we should come to church. This is why we should be in church both ends in the Lord's day. This is why we should go to the prayer meeting. This is why we should make every effort to be together as a congregation.

[15:33] Because it's when we come together. It's when we come together to worship that we can look back to Calvary and see what Jesus has done for us.

[15:45] And it's from there that we're able to move forward like the Israelites. Forward in our profession and forward in our promise as a Christian. That we will stand firm against the temptations of the world.

[15:57] It's all about looking back in order to move forward. And that's why Moses was giving his speech on the banks of the River Jordan.

[16:08] He didn't want the people to forget the command to Israel. But he also didn't want the people to forget the caution for Israel. And that's what we see secondly.

[16:21] A caution for Israel. Look down at verse 10. It says there And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob to give you with a great and good cities that you did not build and houses full of all good things that you did not fill and cisterns that you did not dig and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant.

[16:45] And when you eat and are full then take care lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery. Now as Moses continues his speech to the Israelites on the banks of the river Jordan he cautions them about the promised land.

[17:04] And Moses cautions the Israelites about complacency. Because as Moses explains complacency breeds forgetfulness.

[17:16] Complacency breeds forgetfulness. And that's why he says in verse 12 take care lest you forget the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery.

[17:27] Moses cautions the Israelites about the temptations that they will face in the land of Canaan. And the temptation that they have is to forget the Lord and to forget where they have come from and forget who brought them from that place.

[17:46] And you know it's such a danger and it's so easily done. because like the Israelites you know we can be tempted into a lazy Christianity where we enjoy all the benefits and all the blessings of salvation but we don't acknowledge the Lord for them.

[18:04] Or you know we could face the danger of doing exactly what the Apostle Paul warned against. The danger of continuing in sin. Thinking that sin isn't that bad.

[18:15] Continuing in sin that grace may abound. And Paul's response to that kind of Christianity God forbid. God forbid that we should treat God in such a way he says.

[18:29] But you know the danger of when we forget the Lord is when we lull ourselves into thinking that our salvation is something that we did. And we think that and when we think like that or even along those lines that we have a part to play you know we become less dependent upon the Lord and we become self-sufficient and we become proud.

[18:55] And my friend I need not remind us that there is no room for pride in Christianity. There's no room for a holier than thou attitude towards anyone.

[19:08] Because even with Paul's desire for holiness the Apostle Paul he had this desire for holiness this striving to be more and more like Jesus every day of his life even though he had that he never for one moment forgot where he came from and what the Lord did in his heart.

[19:27] That's why he confessed by the grace of God I am what I am. By God's grace alone I am what I am. And that's what Moses wanted to remind the Israelites.

[19:39] Moses wanted the Israelites to remember that it was by the grace of God alone that they were the people of God. Moses never wanted the Israelites to forget that their salvation was all of grace and not of works lest any man should boast.

[19:58] And so in order that they will not forget the gracious provision of salvation that the Lord has given to them Moses reminds the Israelites of everything everything that the Lord has given them.

[20:12] And the first thing Moses reminds the Israelites about is that the land of Canaan is a promised land. It's the land he says in verse 10 that had been promised to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob.

[20:27] It was a promised land. It wasn't given to the Israelites because of their obedience or their faithfulness. It was given because it was promised. Just like salvation.

[20:38] we are saved not because of our obedience to the law, not because of our church attendance, not because of our Bible reading, not because of our Bible knowledge, not because of our good living.

[20:51] We are saved because God promised that he would give his only begotten son and that whosoever would believe in him would not perish but have eternal life.

[21:03] That's how we're saved. nothing of us, all of grace. But Moses, he not only reminded the Israelites that the land of Canaan is a promised land, he also reminds them that the promised land is a land that's flowing with milk and honey.

[21:20] Which of course that's metaphors, milk and honey, it's a metaphor of blessing. And that's what the promised land was. It was a land full of benefits and blessings which the Lord graciously gave to his people.

[21:34] If you look at the end of verse 10, he says, with great and good cities, I'll read from the beginning of verse 10, and when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob to give you, with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, and when you eat and are full, then he says, then take care lest you forget the Lord.

[22:04] And you see the emphasis there in those verses. You did not. You did not. You did not. Meaning that all the benefits and all the blessings which the Israelites were to receive when they crossed the river Jordan into the promised land, it was not of themselves.

[22:25] It was the gift of God. It was the gift of God. It was all of grace. The Lord graciously and lovingly gave it all to them.

[22:37] And you know, it's no wonder Moses cautions them about complacency, because he fears that complacency will breed forgetfulness. Which is why he says in verse 12, take care, be on guard, watch yourself, lest you forget the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

[23:02] And you know, when we consider the Lord's provision of salvation in and through Jesus Christ, you know, we have no reason to be complacent.

[23:14] We have no reason to be proud. We have no reason to become self-sufficient. We have no reason to have a holier-than-thou attitude towards anyone. And we have no reason to forget the Lord.

[23:26] because he and he alone is the one who has provided salvation for us in and through the person of Jesus Christ. And because of this, Moses reminds us here that we are to respond to the Lord's provision of salvation in faith and obedience.

[23:49] That's what he says in verse 13. Look at verse 13. It says, it is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve. And by his name you shall swear.

[24:00] You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you. For the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God. And he said, you know, we're to respond, he says, to the Lord's provision of salvation by fearing the Lord and serving the Lord.

[24:17] We're to respond in faith and obedience. We're to respond in commitment to the Lord and his cause. My friend, our response to the Lord's provision of salvation, along with all its benefits and blessings, our response is commitment.

[24:38] The Lord requires commitment, lest we forget. And it's so easy for us to forget. But Moses is reminding us here that we must acknowledge the Lord.

[24:53] We must be committed to the Lord and his cause so that we won't forget. But you know, for you, my unconverted friend, I just want to speak to you for a minute.

[25:12] Give me your ear for a minute. I want you to consider all that the Lord has done for you throughout your life thus far. Because I've no doubt that you can look at your life and all its blessings, all the things that you have, and you can say, well, the Lord has been good to me.

[25:33] The Lord has been good to me. And when you really think about it, the Lord has been good to you. He has provided for you throughout your life. He has watched over you throughout all your difficult situations.

[25:47] situations. He has kept you, kept you, even when you were unaware of it. He has given you a home and all the blessings of family and friends and all these things.

[25:58] He's granted you a measure of wealth and security. He's even given you the health and strength to come to church today. And today, the Lord is reminding you from his word.

[26:12] He's reminding you of all that he has done for you, lest you forget. Lest you forget. Because let's be honest here.

[26:24] Even though you've received all these benefits and blessings from the Lord throughout the years of your life, up until this point, you've forgotten him. You've forgotten him.

[26:36] And you might say that you haven't forgotten the Lord because, well, you come to church week by week. But you have. Because as soon as you walk out that door, as soon as you leave this building, the Lord is forgotten.

[26:52] And other things are on your mind. But you know, the Lord isn't asking you to come to church. He's asking you to commit your life to him.

[27:06] And the Lord is reminding you today that you need to acknowledge him in your life. You need to fear him. That's what he says in verse 13. It is the Lord your God you shall fear.

[27:17] Him you shall serve. And by his name you shall swear. You need to commit yourself to him. And you need to respond in faith and obedience. And you know, my friend, I keep coming back to these verses because I believe that this is where some of you are at.

[27:36] This is the rut that you have got yourselves into. And I keep coming back to the words of Romans chapter 10. If you don't know them, look it up when you go home.

[27:48] Because in Romans chapter 10, and you know, I'll make this personal to you. Romans chapter 10 at verse 9, it says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved.

[28:08] And as I've said before, believing is not the issue for you because you already believe. You believe the Bible. You believe what the Bible teaches about God. You believe what the Bible teaches about Jesus and about salvation.

[28:21] salvation. If I was to ask you anything about the Bible, you say, yes, I believe it. I believe the resurrection. I believe that Jesus died for sinners. I believe all that. But the issue is confessing that you believe it.

[28:36] Confessing it publicly. And that's what commitment is all about. Commitment is about confession. Commitment is all about confession. confession. Because Paul says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved.

[28:57] And then Paul goes on to say in the next verse, for with the heart one believes and is justified. And with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

[29:08] My friend, commitment is all about confession. Not only the confession of sin, but also the confession of the Savior. Commitment is all about confession.

[29:22] It's all about confessing Jesus as your Lord. My friend, the Lord has been good to you throughout your life. And he's reminding you of all that he has done for you.

[29:36] Lest you forget. Lest you forget. And he's calling you to commit your life to him. To Jesus Christ. He's calling you to confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

[29:54] So don't forget. Commitment is all about confession. And so as Moses gives his speech on the banks of the river Jordan, he didn't want the people to forget the command to Israel.

[30:09] He didn't want the people to forget the caution for Israel. And lastly, Moses didn't want the people to forget the children of Israel.

[30:21] The children of Israel. Look at verse 20. When your son asks you in time to come, what is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?

[30:33] Then you shall say to your son, we are Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the Lord showed us signs and wonders great and grievous against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household before our eyes.

[30:47] And he brought us out from there that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to our fathers. And now as this chapter draws to a close, Moses reminds the Israelites about the children of Israel.

[31:01] Of course, the term children of Israel, it was how the Lord described the Israelites, both young and old. But in this particular section, Moses has a concern for the next generation.

[31:14] He has a concern for the children of the Israelites. And his concern is that if Israel forgets the Lord, then the children of Israel will never come to know the Lord.

[31:28] And what Moses is reminding the Israelites is the solemn responsibility of bringing up our children to fear the Lord. And you know, the Bible has this great emphasis upon the next generation and the need to teach the next generation and the need to prepare the next generation for eternity.

[31:49] Because the concern of Moses and the concern which the Lord has for his people is that it doesn't take long for the Lord to be forgotten and forsaken.

[32:02] And you know, we can see this in our own day and generation. If we were to go back three generations to the generation that lived through the Second World War, that generation you could say feared the Lord.

[32:18] But the next generation forgot the Lord. And this generation has forsaken the Lord. It didn't take long. Only three generations to go from fearing the Lord to forgetting the Lord to forsaking the Lord.

[32:36] And you know, this is why the Bible stresses the importance of teaching the next generation. Because it doesn't take much for the next generation to forget and to forsake the Lord.

[32:49] And what Moses is reminding us here is that we need to take the task of teaching the next generation seriously. And you know, when you read what Moses has written, he has this great burden for the next generation.

[33:05] Probably because he saw a whole generation die in the wilderness because they forgot the Lord. And we can see Moses' burden for the next generation because when the Passover is instituted in Exodus 12, Moses says to the Israelites, when your children ask, what does this Passover mean?

[33:27] He says you need to explain to them that the Lord redeemed us and brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. And then here in Deuteronomy, we see that Moses says, when your children ask, what happened in the wilderness?

[33:41] When they ask about what happened in the wilderness, Moses says, tell them that we were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt and that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and he brought us out of Egypt so that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our father.

[33:57] And then when we go into the next book, the book of Joshua, the Israelites, they've crossed over the river Jordan, they're now in the promised land, they've set up memorial stones because of this great victory.

[34:10] And Joshua says to the people, when your children ask, what do these stones mean? Tell them that the Lord brought us into the promised land.

[34:23] My friend, time and time again, the Bible stresses the need to tell the next generation about what the Lord has done for his people. And as all these passages allude to, in Exodus, Deuteronomy and Joshua, they allude to the fact that children will ask.

[34:42] They will ask questions. Because as you know, children are full of questions. David and Finley, they're always asking why, how, what, when, where.

[34:54] They're full of questions, but we need to be prepared to teach them. And as Moses said at the beginning of the chapter, we need to teach our children to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.

[35:07] And then Moses goes on to say, he says, these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise.

[35:23] My friend, we need to teach our children the command to love the Lord. We need to caution our children not to forget the Lord. Because if we don't teach them, they will forsake the Lord.

[35:42] They will forsake the Lord. And you know, how can you teach your children to fear the Lord and to caution them not to forget the Lord or to forsake the Lord if you don't do it yourself?

[36:00] You need to fear the Lord in order to teach your children how to fear the Lord. You know, one commentator, he made this interesting point about listening to the previous generation and passing on to the next generation.

[36:17] He said, obeying our parents is our main task when we are young, but honouring them should continue after their death. And the best way to honour our parents is to pass on their godly values to our children.

[36:31] And then he asks the probing question, what are you doing to show respect to your parents? are you living in a way that brings honour to them?

[36:43] And you know, it's a thought, because we have all been taught by the previous generation how to fear the Lord. But our generation is forgetting the Lord and the next generation is in danger of forsaking the Lord.

[37:01] So my friend, we need to fear the Lord. Commitment is about confession. And so Moses, he gives this speech on the banks of the river Jordan.

[37:16] And he reminds us about the command to Israel, the caution for Israel and the children of Israel. He reminds us, lest we forget. But then he says, just in closing, in verse 24, the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good always, that he might preserve us alive as we are this day.

[37:41] And it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God as he has commanded us. My friend, the Lord has spoken to us today, as Moses says, for our good.

[37:58] It is for our good we have to see it like that. It's for our good. And on a day like today where we remember the fallen and we remember the victories of the past, you know, we must respond by acknowledging that the Lord and the Lord alone is the true source of our success.

[38:22] And we must commit our lives to him. We must follow in the footsteps of Jesus. And we must say with Kipling, Lord God of hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget, lest we forget.

[38:41] May the Lord bless these thoughts to us. Let us pray. O Lord our gracious God, that thou Lord wouldst teach us to remember, to remember thy word, to remember to apply it in our lives.

[38:57] So remember, Lord, to teach our children, for they are the next generation. And Lord, we pray that we would not forget, or that we would constantly have thy word before us, that we would have Jesus set before us day after day, and that we would keep looking to him, knowing him and loving him as the author and the finisher of our faith.

[39:19] Bless us, Lord, we pray thee then. Bless us this day, the Lord's day. Help us to rest in it. Help us to wait patiently upon thee. And Lord, that if we are spared to meet thee again this evening in thy house, that thou Lord wouldst speak to us there, and remind us anew of the beauty of Jesus, and the glory of the gospel, lest we forget.

[39:41] All go before us then and do us good, for Jesus' sake. Amen. We shall conclude our service this morning, this afternoon, by singing to God's praise in Psalm 46.

[39:56] We're picking up where we left off, in verse 7. Psalm 46, page 271. We're singing from verse 7 down to the end of the psalm.

[40:09] The Lord of hosts upon our side doth constantly remain, the God of Jacob's our refuge us safely to maintain. Come and behold what wondrous works have by the Lord been wrought.

[40:20] come see what desolations he on the earth hath brought. Down to the end of the psalm of Psalm 46. To God's praise. verse 7. Amen. The Lord of hosts on our side doth constantly remain, the God of Jacob's peace and ultimately OT especially to in our Randy blason.

[41:07] Our humanity is he all not bound sore as it I, Lord, be born from single desolations beyond the earth approach.

[41:46] On to the ends of all the earth, forced into peace He turns.

[42:05] The hope He breaks, the spear He cuts, and by the child burns.

[42:25] He still can know that I am God.

[42:36] Above the heathen eye will be exalted by honor, will be exalted by our God, who is the Lord of hosts, is still upon our side.

[43:22] The court of Jacob, the refuge forever will abide.

[43:41] The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, now and forevermore. Amen.