Psalm 103:15  As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
16  For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
17  But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;
18  To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.

God created man with a brilliant mind. Adam was capable of naming the animals without the aid of computers. He had a good memory and did not mix up any names. He also had the ability to remember God’s commands to him. He knew what he could do and he also knew what he could not do. Prior to the fall, there was no clutter in Adam’s mind. Everything was very clear. We do not know what that is like.
Adam chose to neglect the blessing he had been given. He chose to accept a lie. He chose to ignore the truth and to venture into unknown territory. He knew the consequences of stepping outside of the boundaries that God had established. Adam made a tragic choice that not only affected him but all of humanity, and in fact all of creation.
God did not give up on Adam due to his sin. He confronted Adam and announced the judgment upon him. Adam still had the truth in his mind. Now he had interference with the truth. He chose that mess. Now man would need extra laws to remind him of what he should do and what he should not do.
It was necessary for man to be reminded of these laws. God showed man the importance of a covering for his sin. God also showed man that there was a need for the shedding of blood to deal with sin. He killed an animal in order to provide a coat of skin to cover the nakedness of man. This was a picture of the nakedness in the heart of man. Since man was now a sinner, he would need a covering for that sin. God had already promised man that He would provide the seed of the woman to bruise the head of the serpent. The Bible shows us that this bruising would be fatal. God also shows us that the seed of the woman would need to be killed and his blood shed in order to provide forgiveness for man’s sin. God taught man that he needed to continue to bring animal sacrifices to Him until He would provide that seed of the woman. God also taught man that the animal sacrifices could never remove the sin from man. They could only cover the sin. Those who trusted in God as they brought those sacrifices, found relief from their sin.

Hebrews 10:4  For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

God planted the picture of a blood sacrifice firmly in the mind of man long before He raised up the nation of Israel. In Genesis 4 we see that Cain decided to distort God’s command and he was punished for it. However, Cain did not repent and desire the truth. He continued on his path of rebellion and he instilled that path of rebellion into his descendants.
The Bible has much to say about remembering. At times we read of individuals who pleaded with God that He would remember His mercy and that He would remember man. God never forgets anything. He does not need reminding. However we are in constant need of being reminded of the facts.
The nature of fallen man is such that he does not like to be reminded of the truth. In general, man is not opposed to learning. Most of the learning that is done is of little to no value. It is not just our public K-12 schools that are a waste of time, but the colleges and universities are also of little to no value. The foundation of all secular education is evolution. When life is approached from that lie, the outcome will not be right nor good.
In our text we are reminded that our lifespan is quite short. We can do quite well for a short period of time. My wife and I enjoy flowers. My wife is a good gardener. We have a variety of flowers in the garden in the summer time. She has many ideas for different types of gardens. Some come to fruition and others remain as ideas. It is nice to see the flowers blooming. The different colours and shapes are nice to look at. After a few months they die off and fall and winter come. During winter we have a few plants in the house and some of them are flowering. We enjoy that as well. However, the flowers do not last that long. God says we are like that. We are born, we grow into adulthood, and we follow our dreams to a degree and most manage to accumulate some earthly things. However, man ages and we become more limited in our activities and eventually we die. During those few years we have, it is necessary for us to remember God’s commandments. We need them in our heads and we need to be taught the significance of those commandments. Too often people assume that if they try hard to keep the commandments, that will be good enough. They know they cannot keep them, so they minimize the power of the commandments and develop a humanistic rationale for how necessary they actually are.
God tells us in our verses that His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting. There is never a time when God has not or will not act according to His mercy. We are also told that this mercy is for those who fear Him. Fearing God is responding to Him with humility and obedience.
Adam did that perfectly for a short time in his life. After the fall, he would not be able to do that perfectly anymore. No man can do that as God requires it. However, God still requires that perfection. The devil has been spreading the lie that we just need to try our best and that will be good enough. Of course his description of “our best” is far from God’s absolutes.
If we are not constantly exposed to the truth, we will forget about God’s absolutes. I have often stated that it is better for a person to stay away from church rather than attend one that is teaching heresy. That does not mean we should avoid church. It means we need to ask God to lead us to a church that will help us to remember His commandments and the need to do them.
The first commandment given by God is:

Matthew 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38  This is the first and great commandment.

This commandment does not teach works salvation. It teaches the necessity of a change of heart. God reminded the nation of Israel of that same commandment early in their history. We need to remember the order of the commandments. We cannot skip the need to love the LORD and think we can get by without that.
That love of God is a gift from God. No one can love the Lord on their own. We can talk of the love of God, but unless we are taking God’s definition of love, we will be way off the mark. You will notice in our text that we need to remember His commandments and do them. Love requires action to define it. People talk of loving a certain food. They demonstrate that love by purchasing or making that food and eating it. Others will talk of loving some place. They prove that by frequenting that place. Couples speak of loving one another and they demonstrate that love by how they relate to that particular person.
In order for us to have the right kind of love, we need to have the love of God in our heart first of all.

I John 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us.

Apart from that gift of love, we will never love anyone as we ought to. That love enables us to do God’s other commandments. We can live in His righteousness when we know Him. We can live in such a way as to demonstrate the blessings of God to our children and grandchildren when we know the true God.
We need a constant reminder of Who the true God is and what He requires of us. We also need to be reminded that:

I John 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

If the love of God dwells in you, it will not be a burden to keep His commandments. If you are saved but trying to restrict that love in you, His commandments will be grievous and you will seek a place that does not remind you of the importance of them. If you are not saved, you will not appreciate any of God’s commandments.
All of Adam’s descendants have a problem with God’s commandments. From birth we are sinners and thus we are forced into keeping some commandments by our environment. Through our God-given conscience, we have a basic recognition of His requirement for us. Generally, many distractions are put in the way to keep us from pursuing what our conscience tells us we should be looking to. The few who will allow their conscience to guide them into truth, will be saved. The Holy Spirit works in the conscience of all people. A few will respond and come to true Biblical salvation. Then it is needful to be reminded of God’s way of blessing. Spiritual growth is required and possible for the saved person. Keeping God’s Word fresh in our hearts and minds is essential to that loving relationship that God wants us to have. Due to God’s mercy, we can grow in Him if we are saved. It is important to know Him and grow in Him.
Pastor Bartel