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.
Many years ago, before I was baptized into the Christian Faith, I used to go to places where I was surrounded by a plethora of people, from state fairs, amusement parks, national sporting events, and even some large outdoor concerts. But whenever you go to these types of gatherings, they all share one thing in common; parking. There are so many vehicles that it can be extremely difficult to remember where you have parked your car. Back then, we didn’t have fancy little buttons on our keyring that would honk the horn so we could find where it was. We didn’t have cell phones with GPS tracking locators to guide us back to our vehicle. A lot of the time, you would have to park many blocks away, only to find yourself later on searching for your car, in a strange town with unfamiliar streets, and wandering aimlessly in the dark. Like playing a game of concentration with your kids, it all had to be done by memory, or else you had to wait an hour until everybody else left the parking lot!
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
People might forget to buy gas for their lawn mower, or to defrost frozen meat for dinner, but one thing you never want to forget are the things that we have learned from God’s Word. Some things are extremely important to remember, such as a pilot filling his Cessna with fuel before he takes off from the airport, or a skydiver putting on his parachute before he jumps out of the plane. Forgetfulness is to have a slip of memory, which can result in devastating consequences, especially in regards to our eternal salvation. Rather than remembering to walk in God’s will, some people will forget, which will result in neglecting the most important thing that you could ever possess; our faith.
Hebrews 2 ¹ Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. ² For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; ³ How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him….
The preaching of God’s Word is not only for instruction, but to bring the church into remembrance each and every day of what they are supposed to be doing. It is also to remind them of the consequences that happened to those in the past who neglected their faith. You might neglect putting oil in your engine, but it will only wreck the motor. If you choose to neglect the teachings of scripture, it can result in losing one’s eternal salvation.
“I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.” Jude 1:5
Many people don’t like to be reminded over and over again, but in the church you had better get used to it. We remind ourselves everyday when we put a note on the refrigerator. A lot of times people will put things on a calendar or in an appointment book. How many of you wanted to remember something so much that you pulled out a pen from your pocket, and wrote it on your hand? A preacher at times can be repetitive, but as people have said in the past, repetition is a good teacher, and again,…repetition is a good teacher!
“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.” 2 Peter 1:12
Sometimes you might ask your son to do something, but then he never gets it done. Maybe you told him to cut the lawn but he completely forgot about it and did something else. Many times they will explain that they forgot, thinking that this is an acceptable excuse. But in regards to our salvation, those who forget to do the will of God, are not going to have an excuse on judgment Day. All that waits for them is eternal punishment.
“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” Psalms 9:17
We must constantly remind ourselves each day of what God wants us to be. It is an incredibly high calling, and one that demands our utmost respect and attention. We must take great heed to remember the things that we have learned, not only for our own salvation, but for the salvation of those around us.
1 Timothy 4 ¹⁴ Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. ¹⁵ Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. ¹⁶ Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
There can be dreadful consequences when you forget to do certain things, such as watering your houseplants. When I was very young, I used to throw some terrible looking pottery pots at school. They were so ugly that I really needed some way to cover them up, so I would plant Swedish Ivy’s in them. The only problem was, I would usually forget to water them, and they would eventually wither up and die, leaving me with a dead plant and an ugly pot to boot.
The same thing can happen when people forget about the teachings of scripture. People forget to study God’s Word; people forget to hear it preached regularly; people forget to show up in church and surround themselves with others who are filled up with faith. Slowly that seed that has been placed in them, can begin to die, simply because they forget to water their hearts regularly with scripture. Rather than applying the teachings of God’s Word to their daily lives, they become a forgetful hearer, completely forgetting the man that God calls each of us to be.
James 1 ²² But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. ²³ 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: ²⁴ For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. ²⁵ 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.
If we are ever going to obtain eternal life, we must remember what we have been taught from Scripture because our salvation depends upon it.
“Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” Revelation 3:3
“By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:2
How good is your memory? We might forget about certain temporal things in this world, but the one thing that you never want to forget about are the things that lead to eternal life. We must remember God’s Word. We must remember His commands and directions. We must remember to do what His Word teaches. Only then, will we eventually find our way home, and…..
…. Back to the Car.
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 goups. 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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