Forgotten But Not Gone
Jeremiah 3:21 “A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.”
I. Memory
a. Memory is a fickle thing.
i. It is an easy thing to forget where we place our keys/wallet/etc.
ii. Each day we live, some fragment of childhood memory is lost to the eroding winds of time.
b. Strong memories can last a lifetime.
i. Memories associated with emotion can become very strong and can last a lifetime.
ii. Many elders can remember where they were when they heard of the Kennedy Assassination or Pearl Harbor.
iii. Younger folks likely remember where they were when they saw the flaming horror of the Twin Towers of 9/11.
c. Those who have been filled with the Holy Ghost and baptized in Jesus’ Name can likely remember where it happened and how, because it is attached to an incredible surge of power and emotion.
i. July 17, 1983.
1. Tom Watson shot a 275 at Royal Birkdale in the 112th British Golf Open.
2. Beth Daniel won the LPGA McDonald’s Kids Golf Classic.
3. First USFL championship: Michigan Panthers beat Philadelphia Stars 24-22.
4. Brent Long received the Holy Ghost at 6750 SW 198th Avenue, Aloha, Oregon in the fifth row back from the front on the left side of the auditorium, about 9 feet away from the left end of the pew.
ii. June 26, 1983.
1. “Show Boat” closed at the Uris Theater in NYC after 73 performances.
2. TV Series “Loving” premiered.
3. Ayako Okamoto won the LPGA Rochester Golf International.
4. Brent Long was baptized in Jesus’ Name.
d. If you haven’t received the Holy Ghost yet, why not make a memory today!?
i. Baptized yet? We can do it today!
e. Even as wonderful and powerful as our experiences with God are, we can unfortunately forget Him in our daily lives.
II. Forgotten.
a. The story of Israel is one of forgetting God.
i. Throughout Judges, Israel forgets God and falls into oppression.
1. They realize the oppression and the reason, and turn back to God.
2. God brings victory back to them.
3. They enjoy peace for about 40 years.
4. They forget God again.
ii. But not just in the book of Judges. We find this theme throughout the Word of God. Even in the prophets where we read today, Jeremiah tells them that they have forgotten their God.
b. The church is warned not to forget their God.
i. Peter writes to the church, reminding them of God’s blessings and His impact and influence in our lives.
2 Peter 1:3-12 “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: (4) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (5) And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; (6) And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; (7) And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. (8) For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
ii. Look at the amazing things he mentions!
1. Virtue, glory, promises, divine nature, escape from corruption, faith, knowledge, godliness, kindness, charity.
iii. But then he gets to the heart of the matter:
2 Peter 1:9-11 “But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. (10) Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: (11) For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
c. What happens when we forget?
i. Church is a chore, so we skip it.
ii. Outreach is difficult, so we keep our mouth shut.
iii. We rob God by not paying tithe. You better remember that every dime you get comes from God!
iv. We look at sin and compromise as nothing.
v. We start thinking that living for God is more trouble than it is worth.
vi. Why?
1. It’s because we’ve forgotten.
2. It’s because we haven’t been keeping our relationship with God fresh and new!
3. It’s because the only prayer we do is at the dinner table, and even then it’s just a few words of ritual.
4. We’ve traded pursuit of God for pursuit of the things of this world.
Deuteronomy 32:15-18 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. (16) They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. (17) They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. (18) Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.
vii. God’s people must continually look to the Rock!
1. This world wants you to think that God has become irrelevant.
2. I picked up a history book at Borders yesterday and it was a timeline book, so I thought I’d peruse its contents to see items like Moses, birth of Jesus, crucifixion, etc. Not a mention of ANY of those things.
3. The book was an unabashed attempt to write God out of history.
4. This foolish author has forgotten God and wants you to do the same.
viii. This nation has forgotten God and wants you to do the same.
1. This world has forgotten God and wants you to do the same.
b. Misery loves company?
i. If you want to “fit in” with the world, you’re headed down a path of misery.
ii. If you want to walk the broad way that the rest of the world is walking this afternoon, you’re going to discover that it leads to destruction.
iii. But I think I’m talking to some people who would rather suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
1. We’d rather walk with God in the darkness than to walk in the light on our own.
2. We’d rather have Him with us in the valley of the shadow death than to walk the mountaintops without Him.
3. IT IS TIME TO REMEMBER OUR GOD TODAY, BECAUSE THOUGH HE BE FORGOTTEN, HE IS NOT GONE!
III. But Not Gone.
a. When I was a child, my mother taught me that if I ignore bullies, they will go away….that philosophy worked sometimes, and sometimes it didn’t.
b. The world wants to believe that they can ignore God and He’ll just magically not exist anymore; His word will become of none effect; His judgements will be thrown away.
c. But God doesn’t work that way. And while God is by no means a bully, He will not just disappear; He will not just ignore judgement, His word will not just cease to be in effect.
d. In every case when Israel forgot God, HE WAS STILL THERE.
i. And He had to allow affliction into the lives of His people in order to bring them back to Him.
ii. Babylonian captivity
iii. Syrian captivity
iv. Multiple captivities throughout the book of Judges – Philistines, Chushanrishathaim, Sisera and others.
e. He called to them through the words of Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 3:22-23 “Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God. (23) Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.”
f. When God’s people remember, God’s presence is made manifest once again.
Deuteronomy 30:1-4 And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee, (2) And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; (3) That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee. (4) If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:
g. God gathers us in when we remember.
i. No matter how far away, no matter where we’ve wandered, no matter how far away we feel from God, if we will remember, we will find that HE IS STILL HERE.
ii. He is here to touch today.
iii. He is here to revive today.
iv. He’s here today to remind you why you serve Him.
v. He’s here today to renew you in the power of the Holy Ghost.
vi. He’s here today to call the prodigal home.
vii. He’s here today to call the cold in heart to a fervency you’ve never known.
IV. Remember today.
a. In the first week of July, 2011 reports of a discovery in poverty-filled South India crossed the news wire.
i. The vaults of the Padmanabhaswamy temple were opened after 130 years. Temple records mention the treasure, and its existence was known to locals. However, no one knew its true size.
ii. The preliminary inventory of the temple treasure may have had King Solomon, the Knights Templar and Indiana Jones rolling their eyes in wonder: over a ton of gold, sacks of diamonds and precious stones; gold necklaces over three meters long and weighing over 2.5 kilograms, gold crowns, thousands of pieces of antique jewelry, idols, and artifacts studded with diamonds and emeralds.
iii. Initial estimates placed the value of the treasure at $22 billion USD, which makes this little known temple the richest place of religion in the world. It easily displaces the Vatican, estimated to own about $15 billion in wealth, its nearest competitor.
iv. Antique collectors' valuation of the find, to be confirmed by the Supreme Court, could be over $100 billion.
b. This staggering treasure had been basically forgotten.
i. While children in the region starved to death, this staggering mountain of riches sat gathering dust.
c. Let me tell you that we have a greater treasure than all the temples in India. Greater than all the treasure in every synagogue, temple, cathedral. Greater than all that sits in any vault on any continent.
i. If we will remember our God, His riches will be opened to us.
1. Hungry, He will feed us.
2. Naked, He will clothe us.
3. Without hope, He will rescue us.
4. Empty, Fill.
5. Lost, Find.
6. Troubled, Peace of mind.
d. I stand with Peter today who said that he would not cease to put you in remembrance.
II Peter 1:12 “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.”
