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Strong Tower Radio

Mike Lambert

I Remember

Fresh manna fell to the ground as a gift from God while the Israelites were in the wilderness.

It was fresh from the ovens of heaven, baked by the master baker himself.

How the Israelites must have anticipated the taste and the smell of each morning's delivery.

Just like the Israelites, you too can now enjoy the taste and smell of fresh manna.

Today you'll be listening to Mike Lambert, pastor of the Holland Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Our study today, we've entitled it, I Remember.

God remembers the best things of His people's early days.

I remember the kindness of your youth and the love of your espousals." From this we draw the thought that God remembers and highly prizes the early piety of his people.

He remembers their first commitments, their first faith, their first prayers, their first love, their first zeal.

That's how God is described in the days of Jeremiah, where he comes forward and says, Jeremiah, you tell the people, I remember.

And the good news today is that God's memory is still good.

He remembers the first things of our walk with Him.

And it may sound strange, yet it is true that it gave God great joy and made Him happy to see us hear the story of Jesus for the first time and acknowledge our guilt and repent of our sins.

He remembers the first time we bowed our heads in acknowledgement of our sin.

He remembers the moment We got down on our knees and asked for forgiveness.

He remembers those first tears, which we tried to brush away secretly so that no 1 would see.

These things were so precious to the Lord, He remembers them, and the Bible says He stores them in His bottle.

God says to Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, you tell the people, Jeremiah, that I remember.

And as we start a new year, the year of our Lord 2025, it would be good for us to remember these things as well.

Our Father in heaven, as we now take time in our worship to open the sacred scriptures, we invite your Holy Spirit to be with us.

Please grant us wisdom and understanding and help us to practically apply in our lives that which we read.

And we ask these things in Jesus' name, Amen.

Please open your Bibles with me to Jeremiah, the second chapter.

I'd like to thank Caius for reading our main text today.

And we're going to start in Jeremiah 2 with the first verse.

So Jeremiah 2, starting with the first verse.

The Bible says, Moreover the word of the Lord came to me saying, Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem saying, Thus saith the Lord, What's the next 2 words?

And that's of course the text that we draw our title from today, thus saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindness of your youth, the love of your espousals, when, notice what it's connected to, When thou wentest after me in the wilderness in a land that was not sown.

Israel was holiness to the Lord and the first fruits of his increase.

Evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord.

Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel." So the first thing we notice here, God is telling His people, He says, I remember a few things.

And you remember, this is a message that's given to Jeremiah the prophet.

Israel is now many, many centuries down the line from when they were freed from bondage in Egypt.

And who is this specific message for when he says, I remember, well, my version says, you speak this to the ears of Jerusalem.

Now, when it says ears of Jerusalem, what does that mean?

Yeah, the people of Israel, the people that lived in Jerusalem.

If you read verse 4 again, it says, hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, in reference to his people, and more specific, how many of the families of the Lord?

Now, all the families of the house of Israel.

And so this message is given particularly to his people.

The word of Jehovah came to his ancient people through the prophet Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah.

He told Jeremiah to pass on to his people the message that he remembered their faithfulness.

He remembered their earnestness as a nation when the nation was first born and came out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses.

He remembered how they followed him through the wilderness in a land that was not sown, but alas and unfortunately they would not remember, they would not obey, They would not trust or rejoice in God.

He therefore tells the prophet Jeremiah, say to them that he remembers their better days.

They seem to have forgotten, but he hasn't.

The Lord says, I have not forgotten, I remember you.

I remember the kindness of your youth and the love of your spouses.

And now using this simple thought in this text for our own prophet, I make this first observation.

He remembers with grace the best things of his people's early days.

He remembers because I can think of at least a few reasons why he remembers the better days.

He remembers because the better days were all his work.

Who was the 1 that delivered Israel out of Egyptian bondage?

Was Israel, they themselves, able to deliver themselves from Egyptian bondage.

So we suggest that God remembers those better days because Those better days were all His work.

You know, in verse number 2 there, it gives a list of things that give us a hint, doesn't it?

God says, I remember you, I remember you with the kindness of your youth.

He's speaking to Israel who are adults now.

He said, I remember you when you were youth, back in your early days.

I remember the love of your espousal, showing us, giving us that symbolism.

You look at that word espousal, it means the period, the time of your engagement and when you were married.

He said, I remember when I looked at you and I showed you my love and you accepted and followed me even out into the wastelands of a wild wilderness.

So God says, I remember your kindness of your youth.

God is the husbandman and his people as the wife.

And then that special relationship is in connection to, the text says, when you left Egypt and you went out into the wilderness places in a land that could not sown.

So God is letting His people know I remember those early days.

I remember the better days." And God still is like that.

God tells Jeremiah, you tell the people, I remember those days.

Praise God He remembers the things of our first commitment.

Do you remember those days when you made your first commitment to your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?

Do you remember the time when you first heard the message of salvation, the story of Jesus?

Do you remember the time when you first heard God's Word opened up and the grand stories of Scripture being read to you?

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I Remember

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