Friday 7 June 2019

Lest We Forget

Scripture: Deuteronomy 4 v 9 - 10: "Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons;
 10  Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children."

Jeremiah 31 v 33: "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people."


Yesterday was the 75th Commemoration of the D-Day landings at Normandy, France, which was in 1944, and  thus began a year that would finally end the horrors of the Second World War.  The Queen and heads of state emphasized, We will never forget.

God has made two covenants with the house of Israel.  They are known as the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.  The first was made on Mount Horeb after the Israelites left Egypt where they had been slaves of Pharoah for 400 years.

The first contained the ten commandments plus all the 665 laws, which all got broken.  Even those who love and respect the Lord cannot manage to never tell a lie, never envy his neighbour, never kill or never worship idols.  Moses spent forty days on the mountain with God, fasting all that time as he received God's Commandments.  When he triumphantly returned to his flock he found them in the midst of breaking those very things.

He threw the tablets of stone to the ground where they broke and went back up the mountain to continue his fast for another forty days while God gave him another set of stone tablets.  The tribes had forgotten about God in the first forty day experience.

The law was given as a discipline to Israel that they had sinned.  Every year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, Israel fasted and confessed their sins, and a scapegoat, usually a goat, would be sent into the wilderness bearing their sins for a whole year.

God's desire is the people He loves will love Him, follow His commands, and teach their children to know Him.  He does not want to be forgotten and discarded.  Unfortunately, so many have done just that.  They may wave at Him at Easter and Christmas while finding eggs and opening gifts, but that's as good as it gets.

The second covenant God declared in Jeremiah 33 was better than the first.  It was called Grace.  In it there was one scapegoat for all persons for one time.  This scapegoat was the only begotten Son of God and His name is Jesus Christ, the Creator of all things including us.  Through belief in Him all sins are forgiven, all diseases are healed, all demons defeated, all death conquered.  It began the day Jesus was crucified.

Through Jesus we are reconciled to our Heavenly Father from whom we were estranged by sin.  No sin can stand in His presence.  Never forget this.  He allowed His Son to die a horrible death through every sin being laid upon Jesus, and through the Blood He shed our sins are blotted out.  If we continue in wilful sin, what more can be done for us?

Hebrews 6 v 4 -6: "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
 5  And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
 6  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame."

We need to renew our minds according to the Word of God.  We must repent of our casual attitude towards the Kingdom of God and make amends to our lifestyles.  Those who walk in holiness find their path to be increasingly lonely as those who continue to love the world distance themselves from them.

The righteous people irk the casual Christians and either provoke them to come closer to Jesus or sadly see them falling away.  We must pray for them to know the conviction of the Holy Spirit to humble them and remind them of the grace of God.  Those who consider God, if He actually exists, to be merciful to their ungodly ways on the Day it matters most, are in for a huge shock.  Jesus says of them, There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

When we take Holy Communion it restores our faith and commitment.  Jesus said at the time of the Last Supper, do these things in memory of Me.  He knew He was about to die and wanted to impress on His disciples this message to be made known to all His true followers.  Another Lest we forget command.

We are responsible to apply His Word to our lives above the advice of men.  We belong to Him, He bought us back with the ransom of His Blood.  How thankful and mindful of Jesus should we be when He has given His all to save us from the torments of sin and Hell.

These days its very unpopular to mention sin.  It is not politically correct to challenge those who now legally are permitted to sin like having abortions.  Sure having a legal abortion is much safer for the mother in the short term.  If she justifies it forever she faces God's judgment as a murderer.  Eternal separation from God.   
1 John 3 v 14 - 15: "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
 15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him."

All those who wrote these new laws, plus those in full agreement with them face the same condemnation.  All those in agreement with the Palestinians desire to destroy Israel through terrorism will be judged by God in the same way.  All those Christians who have abandoned God's grace to go back under the Law of Moses, have forsaken and trampled upon the Blood of Jesus.  They will be judged accordingly.

All those who bring lying doctrines into the Body of Christ will be accountable to God on the Day of Judgment.  All cults that deny Jesus as Lord and worship their founders, or Mary, or idols or statues will be denied on that fateful day.

I write this in tears as I don't know how long we have got.  The Lord is urging me to shout it out because time is short and many are dawdling.  The spirit of slumber is upon their minds and the devil is beguiling them as he did to Eve in the garden of Eden.  If she had believed God and rejected the forbidden Apple death, disease and sin and Satan, the god of this world, he could never have touched her or any of us.

Hell beneath us would never have been enlarged to accommodate sinners.  There would be no religions, no flood, no burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, no Cross, no sorrow.  However, we do look forward to eternal life in Heaven with our Father and Jesus plus all our loved ones.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I pray that every person on Earth would be convicted by the Holy Spirit of sin, righteousness and judgment unto salvation.  I pray that all backsliders would slide back to Jesus.  Father cleanse them and set them free through the Blood of Jesus.  Rescue them Lord from everything that spells disaster. Teach us to stay close to Your Word, Lest we forget! In Jesus' name.  Amen.