Now will 1 remember their iniquities

Now will I remember their iniquities.

Why they did offer their sacrifices to the end that their sins might be done away and had they exercised faith upon Christ the true sacrifice, their sin should have been done away, yes but they offering in regard of themselves, he says: I will remember your sins for all this.

From there the note is, that many men may perform great services, may exercise themselves much in holy duties, and yet have their sins as much upon the file before God as before they began all their services. And this is a sad thing for a man to kneel down and pray with woful guiltiness upon his spirit, and rise up with the same guiltiness that he kneeled down withal, and perhaps he has gone on and prayed, and received the Sacrament for these many years together, and every sin that was upon him when he first began is upon him now; whereas those that in holy duties exercise their faith upon Christ their Mediator, and with the act of faith tender up him to the Father, whatever sins were upon them before, are now done away.

The second thing is observable, namely, that God will remember them, and he will remember them now.

Hence note: that, however God may forbear to come upon wicked men for their sins for a time, yet God has his time to remember them all; to remember, that is, by his judgments to make it appear to them that he does remember them, when they think that God has forgotten them. 1 Samuel 15:20: Thus says the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt: I remember what he did; why this was four hundred years ago that he spoke of. We may commit a sin when we are young and feel nothing of it till we come to be old and then God may remember it against us; as many a man or woman takes a surfeit when they are young and they feel nothing when their bones are full of marrow and their veins with blood, they feel it not for the present, but when they come to be old, Oh! then it aches in their flesh and bones, and then they remember their licentiousness and carelessness in their youth. And so many young people they commit sin and conscience never troubles them for it, and they think all is forgotten, Oh! but many years after the sin is committed God remembers it and makes them remember it too; Joseph's brethren had committed that sin against their brother, and it was 22 years before we read of any remembering of that sin. Many things might be said to this point which I cannot now insist upon, only this thing take with you; let all you that are young ones, yes and others too take heed what you do in sinning against God, for that which you do now may be remembered against you many years after, perhaps twenty, thirty, forty years hence, God may come upon you for what you do at this present; methinks this should be to young men a mighty strong motive to take heed of wicked lives — youth's sins may prove to be age's terrors.

Oh! is it not a great deal better that God should remember the kindness of your youth, than the sins of your youth? Jeremiah 2:2. Oh you that are young, begin to be godly betimes, that God may remember the kindness of your youth. And oh the blessed condition the saints are in, in comparison of the wicked: you have so many expressions, that God will remember their sins no more, that he will bury them in the bottom of the sea; there are at least a dozen expressions in Scripture, and I had some thoughts to speak of them all, but I see it will be too long to speak of them now, of God's casting away their sins (the sin of his people.)

But further:

Now will I remember them.] That is, in the time of their holy duties. Now this is a sad thing, that God should not only remember a man's sin, but even then when he is about to offer sacrifices to God, as in Hebrews 10:3 it is said, that the sacrifices of the Law did bring sins into remembrance: that is, it was a note of their guiltiness every time they came to offer sacrifice, and their sacrifices did not do away their sins fully. Now I will remember them. Then when they offered sacrifices in a careless and ungodly way, surely these sacrifices would bring their sins into remembrance indeed. Hence observe:

God remembers the sins of wicked men in the performance of holy duties in a special manner: and that upon these two grounds.

First, because we come into God's presence. There we come before his eyes in a more especial manner; we are in God's eyes always, but in holy duties the Scripture speaks of it as a more especial drawing nigh to God. If a malefactor that has committed a fact a long time since, and he thinks it is forgotten, if he should presume to come into the King's or Judge's eye, this brings into remembrance what such a man is. So wicked men, when they come into God's eyes, are bold to draw nigh to God in an impudent way although their consciences tell them that they have not sought to do away their sins by faith and repentance, this puts God into remembrance (to speak of God after the manner of men.)

Secondly, because their holy duties are aggravations of their sin, therefore God will remember them then rather than at any other time; as thus: for the Jews (in the text) here to come to sacrifice for their sins: certainly the language of which was this: Lord, I acknowledge I do deserve death myself for the sins which I have committed, and I can only have peace with you through the sacrifice of your Son that I believe is to come; now for them to come and say so and yet continue in their sin still, this adds impudence to their sin; it was a sin of infirmity before, it is a sin of presumption now. So, when men shall presume to come before God in prayer, they have lived wickedly heretofore, and now they come before God to testify their respect that they profess they owe to God, and yet their consciences tell them that they do wickedly depart from God in their lives; when they come in prayer certainly they come to confess and name their sins before God, and to tell God what sinners they are, and yet still their hearts do close with their sins, yes what an aggravation is this? Yes they came to judge themselves for their sins and yet still to continue in them, Oh my brethren if you did but think of the aggravation that such prayer causes of our sins it would make our hearts quake and tremble. But I speak only to those that are hypocrites and live in their sins still, their holy duties do but aggravate their sins, and therefore no marvel though then God remember their sins in a more special manner. We have cause to wonder that God does not come upon some of us in his wrath while we are in the midst of our holy duties, as Pilate came upon the Galileans and mingled their blood with their sacrifices, and so while we compare the lives of men with their prayers (I say) it is a marvel that God does not mingle their blood with their sacrifice. Oh take heed any of you that are conscious to yourselves, or your hearts closing with any known sin, take heed the next time you go into God's presence in prayer and confess your sins, and judge yourselves, take heed that God does not then remember your sins; Now will I remember them, even in the time of their holy duties; you think that's the time of our greatest pleasing of God, but it may prove to be the time of God's remembering your iniquities against you.