Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
When I was a young boy I used to play a lot of cards. We would all sit around at the kitchen table and play crazy eights, spades, or go fish. But it seems that a lot of the kids always wanted to play a game that I wasn’t very good at. It was called concentration. In the version that we played, all of the cards were placed on the table facing down, and each player selected two of them to turn up. But as the game progressed, you had to recall which cards were in which places, and commit them to memory. To win this game, you really needed to pay close attention to what was going on, because the points were awarded each time you paired two up with each other. You needed to remember to win. Although I tended to forget alot, what I needed to do was stay focused, and not forget where each card was placed.
This reminds me the Christian Life.
It’s easy to forget things. To forget something means to cease to remember it. How many times did your dad ask you to cut the lawn, but you completely forgot about doing it? How many times did the teacher at school give you an assignment for the next day, but you completely forgot to bring it in? These things may have slipped your mind here on the Earth, but one thing you never want to forget about is the will of God. Unlike the temporal things of this world that will eventually be forgotten and pass away, he that does the will of God will abide forever.
1 Corinthians 15:1-2 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
The disciples were bringing the church into the way of remembrance by the daily preaching of scripture. They were constantly reminding them of what God wanted them to do with their lives. God’s Word has been written down for us in order to stimulate our memory, and train us in our walk with God, which is why we need to hear it regularly taught. When we do, it keeps it fresh in our memory.
Many of the things that I learned in high school I have since forgotten. I have only retained the things that were important to me. To remember the things of God, it must be the most important thing in our lives. We must hear the word of God daily because once you get too far away from it, you can begin to forget what you are supposed to be doing. Someone might come to church each day, but then start to miss a few services. It might progress even further, to the point that they show up twice a month, or twice a year. Just like forgetting close friends, these people forget about God.
Psalms 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
Psalms 50:22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
At the very beginning, the Apostle Paul had preached to the future church about the death and resurrection of Christ, but as the church progressively grew, he was instructing them in the teachings of God’s Word. Like a baby grows, the Church needed to mature into spiritual adults, which comes for the application of scripture. In order for any of us to enter into heaven, we need to go through the process of sanctification through belief in God’s truth. This is so that we turn away from things that are displeasing to God, and become His obedient children.
But the Apostle teaches that you need to keep in memory what I have preached unto you,….. unless you have believed in vain. To believe something in vain means that it is ineffectual or purposeless. It is to claim that you believe in something, but it doesn’t result in anything. Many people will quickly claim to believe in Jesus, but the faith that they profess never results in repentance or becoming a doer of God’s will. It’s like claiming that you believe it’s going to rain, but you never put forth the effort to bring in the clothes from the clothesline. Forgiveness in Christ Jesus is the greatest treasure that you could ever obtain, and you should be very cautious about receiving His grace in vain.
2 Corinthians 6:1-2 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
When Paul got forgiven for his sins, it resulted in a complete change in his life and direction. He went out and immediately began preaching the gospel, and ministering to the churches. A lot of the New Testament that we have was written by his hand. Works such as these are the evidence of God’s grace working upon one’s heart. Although he refers to himself as the chief of sinners, he took great advantage of God’s mercy, and it completely transformed his entire life. People could see the evidence of God’s grace, through his works and his deeds.
1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
But in order to be saved eternally, you must keep in memory the things that the Apostles and disciples taught. Not only must we remember them, but we must put them into action in our daily lives.
James 1:22-25 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Instead of committing God’s Word to memory, some will forget. In fact some will choose to be willfully ignorant, They have been trained in the will of God, but simply refuse to do it. They choose to forget it, casting it far from their remembrance, and in that state, they cannot perform God’s will. Wthout repentance will be cast away from God’s presence forever because they have forgotten about God’s wrath against the impenitent.
2 Peter 3:1-7 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
Performing the will of God shows that you didn’t forget it. It is your faithful actions that are the proof that the things that have been entrusted to you, were committed to your memory.
Each day in this country, people go off to college to attend classes. They gather together in a school room and sit down as a teacher begins to lecture on a certain topic. A lot of the students will pull out a notebook and begin to take notes on the things that they hear. This is so that they can remember the things that they have learned and commit them to memory. They must remember them, if they want to graduate and someday achieve the occupations that they want to attain in the future.
Likewise, if we want to get to heaven, it’s going to require remembering the things that we have been taught from scripture. I might have not been very good at it before, but hopefully since then, I’ve become much better at…
…….The Memory Game
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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