I invite you to turn with me tonight to Isaiah 49. Isaiah 49 as we read together verses 8 through 21, with the focus of our sermon tonight being verses 15, 16, and 17. Isaiah 49, in the beginning, it's the second servant song recorded in Isaiah. Pointing to the Messiah, to the Lord Jesus Christ. We begin at verse 8. Hear now the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says. In the time of my favor, I will answer you. And in the day of salvation, I will help you. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people. To restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances. To say to the captives, come out. And to those in darkness, be free. They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill. They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water. I will turn all my mountains into roads and my highways will be raised up. See, they will come from afar, some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Aswan. Shout for joy, O heavens! Rejoice, O earth! Burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord comforts His people and will have compassion on His afflicted ones. But Zion said, The Lord has forsaken me. The Lord has forgotten me. Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has born? Though she may forget, I will not forget you. See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are ever before me. Your sons hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you. Lift up your eyes and look around. All your sons gather and come to you. As surely as I live, declares the Lord, you will wear them all as ornaments. will put them on like a bride. Though you were ruined and made desolate and your land laid waste, now you will be too small for your people, and those who devoured you will be far away. The children born during your bereavement will yet say in your hearing, This place is too small for us. Give us more space to live in. Then you will say in your heart, Who bore me these? I was bereaved and barren. I was exiled and rejected. Who brought these up. I was left all alone. But these, where have they come from? Beloved in the Lord, as our Savior hung on the cross, especially during those three hours from the sixth hour to the ninth hour, those three hours of deep physical darkness, during that time He also suffered the deep darkness of spirit as He suffered the anguish, the unimaginable anguish of hell. And He gave expression to that anguish as He cried out, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? The light of the Heavenly Father's love and favor was extinguished against His only begotten Son. It was nowhere to be found. He turned His back against His Son as the punishment that brought us, you and Me, peace was upon Him. Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, was truly forsaken by God the Father. He was truly forsaken by God the Father. Yet God's people, those who have been given His promises, God's people throughout the ages have complained that God has forsaken and forgotten them. David says in Psalm 13, he cries out, But praise God, beloved, the truth as God's Word teaches us and as the Holy Spirit assures us, the truth is that the Lord will not forget His redeemed. That's what the Lord Himself says through Isaiah. Again, Isaiah chapter 49 begins with that second servant song recorded in this book. It's a clear reference, as are all the servant songs recorded. It's a clear reference to the Messiah, Jesus Christ. This one, the verses we didn't read, talking about His work of restoring God's people and being a light for the Gentiles. And then verses 8-13 talks specifically about the restoration of Israel. They will be saved. They will be restored to their land. They will be fed in abundance. And they are to be confident of this because they were God's redeemed people. That's what God had told them in Isaiah 43, verse 1, when He said, Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have purchased you. I have bought you to be My very own. I have summoned you by name. You are Mine. You belong to Me. And therefore, in verse 13 of chapter 49, they are called to worship. Shout for joy, O heavens! Rejoice, O earth! Burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord comforts His people and will have compassion on His afflicted ones. Such words of comfort from the Lord Himself. And that's why the response then of God's people is so hard for us to believe. Verse 14, But Zion said, The Lord has forsaken me. The Lord has forgotten me. All we can really say is that this is their thoughtless accusation of abandonment. Or, beloved, is this so hard for us to believe? How many of us must admit that there have been times when we have cried out to the Lord, maybe for days, maybe even for years, in different circumstances and situations, but there is no evidence, at least as far as we can tell, at least as far as our eyes can see, there is no evidence that He hears us. We think He has turned away from us. Or maybe He is preoccupied with something a little more important. Or maybe our problem is too small for Him to worry about. And the result is that unbelief sets in and we doubt the promises of God. You see, that's probably how Israel felt. The restoration that had just been beautifully described in the verses before our text seemed to be so foreign to them. It didn't fit with reality as they knew it at that time. You see, their thoughtless accusation came in the midst of a period of suffering, captivity. The captives of Israel knew that Zion was their rightful home. Jerusalem is where God dwelt in His holy temple. But they also knew that they weren't there. They weren't there in Jerusalem. They were far away in a foreign land in captivity. Sometimes we say that another can't see past their nose, or we describe them as having blinders on. They only see what's going on at the moment. You see, all of God's promises given to His chosen people before, throughout history, seemed meaningless in the midst of captivity. They couldn't see past the moment at hand, and at that moment, to them, God and His promises were nowhere to be found. Forget about all that God had done and said before. This is now. And in captivity, they were thoughtless with regard to the Word of the Lord. The Word of the Lord, reality, they sided with what was real, at least in their minds. And that was that the Lord has forsaken me, Zion cries out. The idea here is that He had forsaken them outwardly. In other words, they didn't believe that God was present with them. He wasn't there. He was nowhere to be found. To forsake has the idea of departing and leaving another in a difficult situation when that one depends on you. Young people, if you plan to go to the beach with a group of friends and only one of you can drive, all the others depend on that one. And if that driver backs out at the last minute, the rest have been forsaken. The rest have been left in a difficult situation. God's people know and have always known that they depend upon God for their very survival. Unfortunately, sometimes even God's people don't acknowledge that until they are in very difficult situations. But the truth is, deep down, God's people have always known that they depend upon God for their very survival and without Him, there's no hope. And that's why when things seem hopeless, we right away want to blame God. Where are you, Lord? Where are you? Where were you when those miners were trapped in the mine and only one came out alive? Where were you when all those people were trapped in the burning World Trade Center towers and those towers came crashing down upon them, killing them? Where were you when the Jews were slaughtered in concentration camps by the thousands and tens of thousands? where were you when that young child ran out in the street and was struck and hit by a car and killed where were you when my loved one or even I was laying in the hospital for days and they couldn't figure out what was wrong with me where were you Zion's accusation is not only did the Lord forsake and leave her outwardly but the Lord has forgotten me inwardly. Oh Lord, You don't even think about us anymore. What doubt? God's people doubted the very Word of God. They doubted the coming of the servant of the Lord, the Messiah. They doubted the promise of restoration and redemption from captivity which the Lord's prophet had spoken about. What faithlessness! As parents, when our children doubt us and our word, we want to scold them, don't we? How dare you not believe me? I'm your dad. I'm your mom. What I say goes. You can depend on that. In the case of God's people here, this thoughtless, we might even say this ignorant accusation of abandonment is a serious accusation because it is against the Lord, the Sovereign One, who is all-knowing and everywhere present, yet faithlessly His people say, He has forgotten us. He doesn't know what's going on over here. He has forsaken us. He's not with us. He doesn't care about us. But notice, beloved, the Lord doesn't scold or chastise them. Because of their doubt and despair, they didn't deserve it, but while in the pit of despair, God's glorious light of favor shone upon them and He tells them that He will not forget them by giving an unlikely example of forgetting. And saying, notice, notice this example. This is how it is between me and my people, the Lord says. Verse 15 says, Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has born? Though she may forget, I will not forget you. You see, the Lord brings them to everyday life here, something they can make no mistake about, and in essence, He says, listen close, listen close, because this is what you mean to me. Let's be honest, beloved, in this life, you can't find something much greater than the love of a mother for her children. Dads, we love our children, to be sure. We would give our lives for them, but there's something about mother love that is unique to them. Only a mother knows that. And the Lord uses an example of a nursing child, one that is completely and utterly dependent on his or her mother for nourishment and therefore for survival. And that bond is formed already in the womb from the moment the mother finds out she is carrying a child. Isn't that right, mothers? From the moment you find out that bond is there. And when that child is born, he or she becomes the mother's life as the mother cares for the child's every need. Providing every care. And even losing sleep over the child as the child grows, of course, their dads, we participate too, don't we? A mother's love for her children. Boys and girls, young people, make no mistake about this. A mother's love for her children is a self-sacrificing love. And the Lord says, can a mother forget her child? And the expected answer, and I'm sure all of us would cry out, no way! Not on your life! To us, that seems like an impossibility. It's highly unlikely. Yet surprisingly, the Lord says, though she may forget, It's not an impossibility. We can't fathom this, but although it might be rare and unthinkable, it is possible. Mothers are also sinful. Some mothers have and do abandon their children. In extreme cases, some even put their children to death. But outside of those rare and extreme cases, it's hard to find a higher form of human love than the love of a mother for her child, Her children, yet God says, I am even more dependable. Though she may forget, I will not forget you. The Lord makes a contrast now between a mother and her love and Himself drawing the attention of His people to Himself as if to say to them, look me in the eye, look me straight in the eye. I'm serious about this. And then he gives one of the strongest expressions of God's love found in the Old Testament. I will not forget you. And again in Isaiah chapter 43, he had already told them why. I have redeemed you. I have ransomed you. You are mine. You are my precious, precious possession. And that means not only would God not forsake or forget His people, but He guarantees them that when they go through the troubles and the difficulties of life, He will be with them. He will get them through it. Because apart from Him, they will never get through it. In fact, as that familiar Footprints poem rightly says, in those difficult times when we think that God has left us to walk alone, the truth is He carries us, He protects us, He gets us through. Indeed, beloved, in this life, in this life as we look around us each and every day, it seems so clear to us, doesn't it, that evil more and more every day is getting the upper hand. It seems like reality, that which is real to our senses, doesn't fit God's promises, yet we must take God at His Word. We must believe Him. Because not only will God not forget His believers, He cannot forget them. Not only is God's Word true, but His proof is sure. Notice His unfading proof for remembering. Verse 16, See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands. Your walls are ever before Me. See, behold, He not only assures us of His love for, His intimacy with, and His care over us, but He proved it. And that proof, beloved, remains even today. He knows our weakness. He knows that we are prone to wander and live with blinders on. So He gave us proof that we can see by faith. Indeed, what a visible image this makes in our minds. The word engraved is talking about cutting into something, inscribing or carving something into something else, chiseling into. Boys and girls, we're not talking simply about one of those wash-away tattoos that we sometimes stick on our arm or even the magic marker writing that we put on our hands that if it doesn't go away with the first washing, maybe after the fifth or sixth, eventually it's gone. This is talking about something that is more permanent, that is completely permanent. It cannot be erased or covered up or disguised or hidden. Ezekiel 4, verse 1 says, Now, Son of Man, take a clay tablet, put it in front of you, and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. Now, that language there is a bit misleading, because the idea in the original is to cut, or engrave, or chisel into the clay tablet a map of Jerusalem. Something that was to endure. Something that couldn't be glossed over, smoothed over. In the same way, the Lord carved His Ten Commandments into the stone tablet, something to endure forever. And we must understand, beloved, that it's not simply our names, but the fullness of His children. Everything about them is engraved into the palms of the Lord's hands. Our joys and sorrows, our strengths and weaknesses, our needs, our concerns, our sins, our temptations, everything that concerns us is there. That's how deeply and fully God's people are fixed in His memory. Now, boys and girls, of course, we know that God doesn't literally have hands, but He uses language here that we can understand. Think about our hands. For one thing, think about how God created us. He didn't create us so that our arms go backwards and we work with our hands behind us so that we can't see what's going on back there. That's not how we were made. Our hands are out here in front of us, always before our face. We work with our hands. We communicate with our hands. We emphasize things with our hands. If I stand here in front of you to your face with my fists clenched, that means something quite different than if I stand here with my hands open to you. in some ways our hands are the busiest part of our body. Beloved, God is at work on behalf of His people and every time He lifts His hands, again, notice when you lift your arms, your hands, they don't naturally point out the palms, do they? They're this way. We can see them. Every time He lifts His hands, as it were, His church is lifted before His face and eyes. God cannot look at His hands without beholding His church. She is such a part of Him that He cannot forget her unless He forgets about Himself and that, people of God, won't happen. In Psalm 139, David reinforces why it is that the Lord will not forget His redeemed as David talks about God's thoughts towards His people. How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, They would outnumber the grains of sand. Go to the beach and think about that. When I awake, I am still with you. This engraving, beloved, cannot be undone. It cannot be covered up any more than Mount Rushmore can be covered up. I would imagine in order to get rid of Mount Rushmore and the images there, you'd have to blow the whole thing to bits. But even to try to smooth it over would never erase those four heads. God's people are forever engraved in the palms of His hands. And with those same hands, the Lord protects His redeemed. In the text, the Lord says, your walls are ever before Me. There's much we could say about that. We're not going to tonight. Very simply, walls are a picture of strength and stability, a fortress. And the Bible teaches we know that the Lord is the strength and fortress of His church. And walls point to the peace and prosperity of His church. He constantly watches over her walls and keeps her in the palm of His hands. Now we said that God doesn't literally have hands. That's partially correct. God is Spirit. But it's not completely correct. The incarnate Son of God, God in the flesh, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Jesus Christ, had hands. He still does. Like you and me. And I believe this prophecy of Isaiah points to the hands of Christ and His crucifixion. No, we can't see Christ's physical hands with our eyes. But we do with the eyes of faith because He has given us a record, the record of His eyewitnesses, His disciples. Jesus said to Thomas, put your finger here, see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe. Boys and girls, if you have a scar somewhere on your body, that scar is a constant reminder of the reason you have it. Maybe you have a scar on your elbow or maybe on your knee that reminds you of that time you fell off your bike. I have a scar on my chest that reminds me of a surgery I had and the reason I had that surgery. If you talk to my youngest son, he's got a scar under his left eye, he can tell you exactly why he has it. So can his brother. Those scars are a part of us. They will not go away. New skin won't grow over them. The scars in the hands of Jesus will never go away. They will always be there. How do we know? Again, when he told Thomas to put his finger in the holes in Jesus' hands, Jesus was resurrected. He was out of the tomb. He was in His glorified body and it's that body that went to heaven. It's that body that is there right now. It's that body that will come again to judge the living and the dead. You see, those scars in the hands of Jesus remind Him of His purchased ones, those for whom He died. But you see, He's omniscient. He knows all things. He doesn't need something to remind Him of us. Those nail scars in the hands of Jesus are for us. For you and me. Those scars are signs for us to remind us of our need for salvation and that that need has been met completely, fully by Him. Those scars are to remind you and me that as the nails were pounded into His hands and feet and as He hung on the cross, all the sins of all of His people were laid upon Him and he was truly forsaken by God the Father as he suffered hellish agony. Those scars are to remind us that our physical, our earthly trials and troubles will not defeat us. But instead we are able to face them with courage because we are safe in the palms of God's hands. Those scars, beloved, remind us that our Lord Jesus Christ has secured His church forever in His Father's hands. He has won the victory. Satan, sin, and the grave have been defeated. He lives never more to die. And nothing can separate us from His Father's love. Those scars in the hands of Jesus remind us of God's love so amazing, so divine. It demands our soul, our life, our all. It's all there in the scars eternally engraved in His hands. Beloved, we never have to worry that God will forsake and forget us and that's because the scars of Jesus remind us that He took our place. And those who believe in Him and trust in Him alone have been engraved in the palms of His hands with an engraving that will never fade away. If you don't believe in Jesus Christ and trust in Him alone for your salvation from your sins. Your name will be forsaken. It will be forgotten. But His tender call to you tonight is to look to Him in repentance and faith. See by faith the scars in His hands, His feet, His side, and know that there is forgiveness for you. The table of the Lord, Prepared for us tonight is a picture of the scars of Jesus, you might say. His victory scars. And His Word to us with arms open wide, hands pointed toward you, is do this in remembrance of Me. Beloved, praise be to God that those who believe in Jesus Christ will never truly know what it means to be forsaken and forgotten by God. Why? Because, hallelujah, what a Savior.