All right, let's open our Bibles, if you would please, today to the book of Jeremiah chapter 2, Jeremiah chapter 2. And we're going to be looking at verse 32, Jeremiah 2 and verse 32, and the title of the message is a question, and I'm planning on answering it, Lord willing. What does it mean to forget God? What does it mean to forget God? Some time ago, several years back, I preached a message on forgetting God, and I pointed out that when you forgot Him, you forgot His covenant and a number of other things as well. But if you look in Jeremiah 2 and verse 32, God begins with a question, and then He ends with a statement. The question is, Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number. Look at that again, very simple. Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number. It is absolutely astounding and amazing how much we forget. And oftentimes we overlook what you and I would call the most important things to us or even the most important people to us. But our text reveals a few things that are very difficult to forget. Hardly ever will a young woman forget her jewelry. And I do not ever think that there's been an occasion where a bride has forgotten her attire, her wedding dress, her veil, or whatever's there. And yet the Word of God said that His people had forgotten Him days without number. I'm sure that probably The two most frequently spoken words in the English language are, I forgot. And certainly, we do forget. And we have to say those words quite frequently. Years ago, we had a good friend, Roger Bird, who was a state representative from Hazlehurst, Georgia. We were good friends. He told us about another state representative that was a friend of his, and so help me, I just cannot remember his name. But they had to be in Atlanta on Monday morning for a conference and for a vote. And so Roger went up early. But his friend did not even attempt to leave until after church on Sunday evening. And on the way up, of course, he had to stop and get gas. And his wife was traveling with him, but she was in the back seat asleep. And so he went in to pay for the gas, and she woke up, found herself at the gas station, and so she got out, went to the bathroom. Well, the state rep came back, got in the car, never checked on his wife, and drove off. And of course, this was actually before the time of cell phones, or at least nobody had all those bag phones at that particular time. And so the woman, of course, knew where they were staying, and she had Roger's number, and she called Roger and told him that her husband had left her at the filling station. And so when the man got to Atlanta late on Sunday evening, Roger was there to greet him. And after he greeted his friend, his friend told him how tired he was and he was looking forward to getting in bed so he could get a few hours sleep before the morning conference and vote. And Roger said, well, I'm sorry. He said, you can't do that. He said, why? He said, well, where's your wife? He had totally forgotten his wife was with him. Then he had to get in the car and drive two hours back to get his wife, and then another two hours back to Atlanta. So needless to say, he did not get any sleep that night whatsoever. And the truth of the matter is, he's never lived it down that he forgot his wife. Also, years ago, we had a family that had four or five kids in our church, and it was Sunday night, and the baby went to sleep during church. And so they just laid the child down on a pew. And after church, of course, everyone was talking and fellowshipping. Then it got time to go home. And so we turned out all the lights, locked the church building. And when the family got home, they realized they had forgotten their child. They had to drive all the way back to the church building, unlock it, pick up the baby. And the fact is, she never woke up. And I was really thankful for that, because she had awakened in a darkened building without anyone around. Now, I want to make something very clear with these two illustrations. Oh, yeah. Steve has forgotten. Lorraine, yeah. As our youngest son. Yeah. We had foster kids at the time. Right. Back in that church. See, that's one of the—you got old before your time, brother. Well, let me point something out about these two illustrations. Actually, there are three now, since Lorraine mentioned that Steve forgot her. But here it is, and I'm going to show it to you from the Bible. When you forget, you forsake. Now, it may be a temporary forgetting and a temporary forsaking, but that state rep not only forgot his wife, he forsook her, he left her in the filling station. And the parents not only forgot their child, they forsook the child, left the child alone in the church building. So it's interesting that the same thing is true in reference to God. When we forget God, we forsake Him. And we would normally think that it would be impossible to forget someone like God. For instance, in the fact that He's so loving, so kind, so gracious, so generous, so protective, and He is the one who holds our souls in life. And our times, the Bible says, are in His hand, and yet we tend to forget Him. And oftentimes when Christians then get in a vast amount of trouble, and they're experiencing things that they do not even think they've ever experienced, there's a question that they ask, and you'll find this question in the Bible. Where is God? And the answer is, He's right where you forsook Him. He's right where you left Him. Now, it's interesting as you read through the Bible, Warning after warning is given over and over, where God says, Do not forget Me. Do not forget My commandments. And warning after warning has been given where God says, Have I not warned you? Did not I send My prophets, rising up early and sending unto you? And yet you would not hear. So let me show you how this works together. I want you to hold Jeremiah chapter 2. We're coming back there. But I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would, please, to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 8. Deuteronomy, chapter 8. And we're going to begin reading there with verse 11. Deuteronomy, chapter 8. And I want you to notice, please, verse 11 to begin with. So there is a warning right at this juncture. So here it is. Deuteronomy 8, verse 11, look what God says, Beware. That should be a warning sign right there. He says, Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God. By the way, I want you to note how He is specifically referring to forgetting Him. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping His commandments. and his judgments and his statutes which are come in thee this day. Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein, and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied, that thine heart be lifted up, And thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water, who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint, who fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee. that he might prove thee to do thee good at thy latter end. And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant, which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. And look carefully now, and it shall be, if thou do it all, forget the Lord thy God, walk after other gods and Serve them and worship them. I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish So if you will look back to verse 11 He says beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping his commandments his judgments his statutes which I command thee this day and now you look at verse 19 and it shall be If thou do it, forget the Lord thy God, and do what else? And walk after other gods that serve them." In other words, when you really forget God, what He's saying is you forsake Him. Now, this truth is evidenced over and over, especially in the book of Jeremiah. I want you to go back to Jeremiah, because he said, My people have forgotten Me days without number." So I'm going to interpret that for you by showing you a number of Scriptures. Because when you forget God, you forsake God. So if you'll look in Jeremiah 1 and verse 16, so this is not just the immediate context, it's going to be the remote context as well. I'm going to show it to you throughout the next number of chapters. So in Jeremiah 1, look in verse 16, He said, and I will utter my judgments against them, touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto the gods, and worship the works of their own hands. So they forgot God, and once they forgot Him, they forsook Him. And of course, in this passage, they burned incense unto other gods. Now, if you look in Jeremiah 2, and verse 13, watch carefully. He says, For my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water." So, I think in this passage, the Word of God is teaching us that when we forget God and we forsake God, we actually become insane, we become stupid, we become foolish, because who in the world is going to forsake a fountain of living water and hew them out a cistern, a broken cistern that can hold no water. I mean, it's like you leaving a fresh bubbling stream for a bucket with holes in it to carry stagnant water in. So God says, they've forsaken me. Look in verse 17, Jeremiah 2, verse 17. He says, Here hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, when He led thee by the way. So He said, All my leadership, all my providence, you forgot me, you forsook me. Skip down to verse 19. He says, Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backsliding shall reprove thee. Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts." Now, I want you to note, he also said that they had forsaken his commandments. Now he says, my fear is not in thee. Look in Jeremiah chapter 5 and verse 7. So we're looking at the remote context. Now we're seeing that forgetting ends up in forsaking. So, in Jeremiah 5, in verse 19, the Bible says this, And it shall come to pass, when you shall say, Wherefore doth the LORD our God all these things unto us? Why is this happening to us? Then shalt thou answer them, Like as you have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours. So, like as you have forsaken me. If you look at Jeremiah 9, verse 13, Jeremiah 9, verse 13, I have just a few more, but I want you to pay close attention. Jeremiah 9, verse 13, And the LORD said, Because they have forsaken My law, which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walk therein. Now look, because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them." Now, if you would look in Jeremiah chapter 15 in verse six, Jeremiah 15, verse six. Here it is. God says, Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord. Thou art gone backward. Therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee and destroy thee. I am weary with repenting. Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord. Then in chapter 16 and verse 11. Jeremiah 16, verse 11. Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and they have forsaken me, and have not kept my law. Now, one more, if you will look in Jeremiah 17 and verse 13. Jeremiah 17, verse 13, O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, And they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters." So, I want you to mark this truth down. I'm going to explain it a little more fully during this message. But here's the absolute truth. When you forget God, you forsake Him. I don't matter, and it doesn't matter if you're a Christian or non-Christian. When you forget God, you forsake Him. Now, I'm going to show you why. I want you to turn back in your Bibles to Psalm 10, if you would. In Psalm 10, we're going to read verses 2 through 11. And when we read this passage, I have some questions to ask you. I want you to look at this. Psalm 10, let's begin reading there with verse 2. God says, The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor. Let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. For the wicked boasted of his heart's desire, and blessed the covetous whom the Lord abhorreth. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God. God is not in all his thoughts. His ways are always grievous. Thy judgments are far above out of his sight. As for all of his enemies, he puffeth at them. He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved, for I shall never be in adversity. His mouth is full of cursing, and deceit, and fraud. Under his tongue is mischief and vanity. He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages. In the secret places doth he murder the innocent. His eyes are privately set against the poor. He lieth and waits secretly as a lion in his den. He lieth and waits to catch the poor. He doth catch the poor when he draweth into his net. He croucheth and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by strong ones. He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten. He hideth his face, he will never see." So here's some questions. Why are the wicked so wicked? And you're going to say, Well, because he's not saved. Well, let me ask you something. Why is it, in verse 2, the wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor? Why is it, in verse 3, the wicked boasts of his heart's desire and blesseth those whom God hates? Why is it, in verse 5, that his ways are always grievous and God's judgments are far above him? And as far as all of his enemies, he makes fun of them, he puffs at them. How is it in verse 6 the wicked can say, I shall never be moved, I'll never be in adversity? How is it in verse 7 the wicked can say, cursing and deceit and fraud and under his tongue is always vanity and mischief? How is it in verses 8 through 10, he always persecutes the poor and steals and lies and seemingly just just continues in his wickedness. And then he says in verse 11, so stupidly, God has forgotten he hideth his face, he will never see it. How can the wicked do all of these things? And you're going to say, well, the answer is very clear. He's not regenerated. He doesn't have a new heart. He is void of the Holy Spirit. All those answers are true. But that is not what the Bible tells us. If you look back in verse four, the wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God. Look at this. God is not in all his thoughts. Now, let me ask you a question. What is the result or what are the consequences of not having God in your thoughts? Do you remember that passage? I've quoted it so many times in Proverbs 23, verse 7. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. And the heart, you remember, is the mind. So if your mind is void of thoughts of God, and void of God's law, and void of biblical principles, then your conduct and your actions are automatically going to be wicked and vile and contrary to God. So when the wicked then, according to Psalm 10, forget God, they forsake Him. Now, He not only forsakes God, He forsakes God's commandments. He forsakes his worship. He forsakes his responsibility to hear and obey. He forgets his responsibility to confess God and to worship him. He forgets that God has sovereign authority and power. He forgets that God is the absolute sovereign and supreme ruler of the universe. And he does so not just by forgetting God's person, but also by forgetting God's law. Now, I want to give you two quotes. The first one is from John Trapp, which was an old Puritan. And here's what he said. God is not in all his thoughts, God is neither in his head nor in his heart, Psalm 14, one, nor in his words, Psalm 12, four, nor in his ways, Titus 1, 16. He is holy without God in the world, Ephesians 2, one through three. He studies atheism as all his thoughts are. He says there is no God and there is no reason to think of God. Wow. So here's the interesting thing. Like the wicked, many times Christians never have any serious thoughts concerning God. We never contemplate, we never meditate upon his perfections, his attributes, his person, his power, his position. And there may be a few times, especially when we're in need or when we're in desperate trouble, that we might think about and meditate shortly on His promises. But very seldom do we ever meditate upon His commandments, His warnings, His power, His punishment, His chastisement. We don't think of those things. Our minds are always on the world, our world. Our minds are on our desires. Our minds are on our events. Our minds are on our works. I have seen people sitting in church I can see their eyes. I can see the expression on their face. And I know for sure they have no idea what I just said or what I am saying or where they are in their minds. They're thinking about what I've got to do tomorrow, what I've got to do next week. Their minds are not on God. Their minds are not on the word of God. So most people have Flippant thoughts, if any, about God. No serious thoughts. The second quote here is by Stephen Charnock. Listen to what he said. Trifles possess us, but God is not in all of our thoughts, seldom the sole object of them. We have durable thoughts of transitory things and flitting thoughts of a durable and eternal good. The covenant of grace engages the whole heart to man, or to God, and bars anything else from engrossing it. But what strangers are God in the souls of most men? Though we have knowledge of Him by creation, yet He is for the most part an unknown God in the relations wherein He stands to us, because He is a God not delighted in. Hence, it is as one observes, that because we observe not the ways of God's wisdom, conceive not of Him in His vast perfections, nor are stricken with an admiration of His goodness, that we have fewer good sacred poems than any other kind. The wits of men hang on a wing that is flying away when they come to exercise their reasons and fancies about God." In other words, we're not intent to think about God, nor content to think about God. We have our thoughts fly away somewhere else. Now, here's the point I want to make at this time, and I want you to listen carefully. When a Christian forgets God, he forsakes God. It may be a temporary forgetting, and it may be a temporary forsaking, yet at the same time, it is a forgetting and a forsaking of God. So let me try to give you this illustration in a family setting. Here's the father. And he's talking to his son, and he tells him, Son, do not do such and such act. I do not want you to do that. I don't want you to go anywhere near where that is being done. It's wicked, it's wrong. If you do that, son, you'll get in trouble. If you do that, I will punish you. Son, do not do that act. Now, the father has given the son a commandment. The father has warned the son. And yet the son still wants to do what the father has forbidden and what the father's warned against. And so, he plans and schemes in order to do what he wants to do. And he does it. What has he just done? The first thing he's just done is he has forgotten his father. And when I say forgotten him, that doesn't mean he wiped him out of his mind, but he's forgotten to honor his father. He certainly has forgotten to respect his father. He's forgotten to obey his father. And then basically the next thing he did in committing that sin, he forsook his father. He forsook his father's authority and headship and position. So when the child then disobeyed, He not only forgot His Father, but He also forsook His Father. So here's what we've got to understand, that when we as Christians sin, we're not only forgetting God, but we are ultimately forsaking Him. Now, when I say forgetting God, we cannot necessarily wipe everything about God out of our minds. That's not what I'm talking about. But what I am referring to is many times we conveniently forget certain things in order that we may do what we want to do. We're going to conveniently lay aside truth that we may engage in that which we should not engage in. So here's the illustration. Let's suppose that I'm guilty of theft. Before I can actually steal, I have to forget thou shalt not steal. And when I actually steal, I'm forsaking God as my sovereign authority. For instance, if I commit adultery, I have to forget thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. In order to commit that act, I have to forget God's law. And at the same time, I have to forget God's sovereign authority to give me direction for my life and tell me how to live my life. I'm going to give you one more. If I engage in idolatry, I have to forget God said, thou shalt have no other gods before me. And then I have to forsake him as the only one true in the living God. and I have to forsake Him in His sovereign authority as well. Now, here's another truth that we've got to understand in light of this truth, and that is this. When we forget and when we forsake God, it is only that we may worship other gods. You saw that as we read through the book of Jeremiah. Every time they forsook Him, they went into vanity, they went into idolatry. Now, I know what you're going to say. You're going to tell me, look, I'm not going to bow down before an idol. I know better than that. I'm not going to bow down before a totem pole. I know better than that. I understand that. But let me point out, and I'm going to show it to you from Scripture. When we forget God and when we forsake God, we may not bow down to an idol. We may not go and offer incense or sacrifice to some strange God. But what we are doing is we are dethroning God and enthroning ourselves. And we're saying, Lord, I don't like what You say. I like what I want. And Lord, I'm going to disobey You because I desire to do this, and I'm going to do this right now. And so what we've just done, we've dethroned God, we've idolized ourselves, and we've put our desires and our will and our way ahead of and above God. Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, and look, if you would, in Jeremiah 18. And you're going to see this. I've showed you this many times, but I'm going to show it to you one more time right here. Look at this in Jeremiah 18, and let's begin reading there with verse 13. Jeremiah 18, and hang on with me. We're going to think this thing through. Jeremiah 18, verse 13, Therefore thus saith the LORD, Ask you now among the heathen, Who hath heard such a thing? The virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon, which cometh from the rock of the field? Or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forgotten? Watch, or forsaken, because my people hath forgotten me." They have burned incense to vanity, and they've caused them to stumble in the ways from the ancient paths to walking paths in a way not cast up. Now, God said, my people have forgotten me. What did they do when they forgot Him? They forsook Him, and then they burned incense to vanity, that is, to idols, and they stumbled from the ancient way, and they walked in a path not cast up. That is, there was no precautions. There was no safety measure there. There was nothing that would have kept them from falling over the edge, so to speak. In other words, God is saying, every time they forget Me, they forsake Me, they go into idolatry. Now, hang on. I hope you remember 1 Samuel 15, verse 21. You remember what Samuel told King Saul? He said, rebellion is as a sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected thee for being king." Now, hang on. Listen to what he said. For rebellion is the sin of witchcraft. What was the punishment for witchcraft? Death. Stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. What was the punishment for idolatry? Death. So look what he's saying. When you stubbornly refuse to obey me, when you stubbornly refuse to recognize my sovereign authority, that's idolatry. That's idolatry. It's not just that you bow down to an idol. And it's not just that you prefer your own lust and your desires. You are stubborn, and God says that is idolatry. Now, here is where most modern-day Christians messed up. Because we always limit idolatry to foreign idols, and foreign gods, and that kind of thing. And we just cannot imagine ourselves bowing down to those dumb idols. Well, let me show you something. I want you to turn in your Bibles to I Corinthians 10. I Corinthians 10. And I want to take the time to read the first 14 verses. because it's important that we see what is being done and said. So 1 Corinthians 10, look at verse one. Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea. That is divine deliverance, leadership. and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and the sea. There's divine fellowship. And did all eat the same spiritual meat. That's divine provision. And did all eat that same spiritual meat. Watch. And did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Now, look at verse five. But with many of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, I find that interesting. What did he say? But with many of them, God was not well pleased. How many of those that came out of Egypt was God not well pleased with? All but how many? All but two, Joshua and Caleb. Rest of them died in the wilderness. OK, now here's why I want you to watch it. Look what he says. Let's read verse five again. But with many of them, God was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, these things were our examples. To the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. So the eating and drinking was before idols, especially those of the Moabites. and rose up to play, that refers to fornication. Because the next verse says, neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day, three and 20,000. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now look at verse 11. Now, all these things happen to them for in samples or examples, and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore, he that thinketh, he standeth, taketh, lest he fall. There is no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer or allow you to be tempted above that you're able, but will with the temptation also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry." What? Isn't that strange how he ends that paragraph? with fleeing from idolatry. Well, what is idolatry? Well, let's see. It's not just worshiping other idols, it's fornication, it's tempting Christ, it's murmuring against Christ, it's testing him. All of these things, he lumps under idolatry. Wow, isn't that interesting? We have to understand that there are many ways that we can commit idolatry, and certainly one of them is just simply by being stubborn, that is for sure. So, now look in your Bibles to the book of Colossians chapter 3. Turn there if you would, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. And look in Colossians 3 and see this same truth stated again. Colossians 3, verse 5, look at this. Mortify therefore your members which are upon earth. Now, you know what the word mortify means. It means to make dead. When someone says, well, I was mortified, what they mean by that is I was scared to death or I was so scared I couldn't move. When he says, Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, it's the same truth in Romans 6 and verse 11 where he says, Likewise, reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. But look at this now, Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, What members is he talking about? Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. So he's actually classifying everything in verse 5 as idolatry. Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. I suppose probably the most frequently quoted sin or committed sin, and the most easily committed sin is that of covetousness. All I could do is look around and say, wow, I'd like to have a new car. William Rowan has a new car. I like that car. I'd like to have that car. What am I doing? I'm coveting his car. I could covet someone's ring. I could covet someone's money. I could covet someone's wife. Women could covet someone's husband. You covet in your mind. You covet in your affections. You covet in your heart. And God says all of this is idolatry. Wow. Now, I want to show you something. I hope you remember this. When God says, beware, lest thou forget the Lord thy God in not keeping his commandments, his ordinances, his judgments, and his statues. And I just got through showing you. You cannot sin without forgetting God. You cannot sin without forgetting God's law. It's just that simple. When we sin, we not only forget God, we forget His Word. We not only forsake God, we forsake His Word. So I want to show you two passages. I want you to turn, first of all, to Psalm 138, and then we're going to go to John 12. Okay? We're going to Psalm 138 first. And if you'll look in verse two, you know this passage, I've quoted it many times, but Psalm 138, verse two, look what David says. I will worship toward thy holy temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth. For thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. So God has placed his word above his name. So let me put it to you very plainly. If God's word ever fails, then God is not God. Moreover, that entails us this, that you cannot separate God from his word. God's word is the revelation of his will for our lives. So Steve could look at me and he could say, you know, Brother Weaver, I really love you, but I hate your wife. I despise her. I don't even want to be around her. Well, now wait a minute. The only John Weaver that exists is the one that's Mary Dallas. And the scripture says we're one. So how could he love me and hate her? You see what I'm trying to say? Here it is. You can't say, Lord, I love you, but I hate what you've commanded me to do. I hate what you're telling me how to live. Neither can you say, Lord, I love Your Word, but Lord, You sure do make me angry. You sure do grieve me. No, it's impossible to take one attitude toward God and a different attitude toward His Word. You cannot divide God and His Word. If you despise God, you despise His Word. If you despise His Word, you despise God. Now, if you look in your Bibles to the book of John, John chapter 12. And before I give you the verse, I want to quote a little scripture to you. You will remember this, obviously. In John chapter one, we're getting there, verse one. The Bible says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him. Without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life. Hmm, skip down to verse 14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Now, I want you to note, if you would, in the beginning was the Word, the logos, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then you come down to verse 14, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. So let me explain it like this. Jesus Christ is the living Word of God. He's called the Word so many times in Scripture. So if Jesus Christ is the living Word of God, then the Bible is the written Word of God. Now I want you to look in John 12 and verse 48 at what our Lord said. Look at this. Our Lord states, he that rejecteth me, that is the living word, and receiveth not my words, that is the spoken or the written word, hath one that judgeth him, the word that I've spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. So our Lord is saying, you cannot separate me from my word. He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my word. So if you reject Jesus Christ, you're rejecting the word of God. If you reject the word of God, you're rejecting Jesus Christ. You cannot divide God in his word. You cannot divide Christ and his word. Now, let me make a statement. You remember in Psalm 10 in verse four, that which made the wicked man so wicked was simply this, God is not in all of his thoughts. And his thoughts are mainly there is no God, or if there is one, he's not going to see me. He's not going to hear me. He's not going to judge me. I can do what I do and get away with whatever I want to get away with. God is not in all of his thoughts. Here we go. If the word of God is dear to you and close in your heart, so is God. If God is dear to you and close in your heart, so is his word. Because when you forget God, you forget His Word. When you forget His Word, you forget God. If you have His Word, if you have Him in your life, you haven't forgotten Him. When you forget Him, you forget His Word. When you forsake His Word, you forsake Him. Okay? Now, I want to try to tie all this together by making some applications. The first one is this. I hope you remember, and if you do not, I would encourage you to go back and listen to it. I hope you remember the message I've preached many times in many years on keeping the heart. where I demonstrate from Scripture that the heart is the mind, it is the understanding. If you keep your mind upon the Word of God, you will be obeying the Word of God. If you keep your mind upon the Word of God and you obey the Word of God, you will be serving and worshiping God, because you cannot separate God from His Word or the Word from the one true and the living God. Here's another thing. We are an affectionate people. That is true. But I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Colossians chapter 3 again, and I want to read the first three verses to you. Look at this. Book of Colossians chapter 3, and let's begin reading there with verse 1. Here it is. Colossians 3, verse 1, God says, If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Here it is. Set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth. Why? For you're dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth. I'm gonna tell you something. There are multitudes of men and multitudes of women that can tell you more about the stats of baseball players and football players than they can ever tell you about the Bible. You major on what you delight in. And if you delight in God, he said, set your affection on things above where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Now, what I want to show you is this. I want to show you the end result or the consequences for the wicked first, and then for the child of God secondly, in forgetting and forsaking God. So, if you will go back in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah chapter 23, Jeremiah 23. And before I give you the passage, I want you to listen to me for a minute when you find Jeremiah 23. When you find Jeremiah 23, I want to remind you of that which is known as the Lex Talionis. which is nothing more than the law of retribution. That is where God makes the punishment fit the crime, or He makes the punishment fit the sin. Now, if you will remember Psalm 10, it's why the wicked do what they do. They forget God, they forsake God, okay? So now look in Jeremiah 23, verse 39 and 40. God says, Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence. And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten. God said, look, you forgot me and forsook me. Fine. I'll forget you and forsake you. And there will be a perpetual shame upon you, everlasting reproach upon you. That's for the wicked. That is exactly what God will do now. When the child of God, when the Christian forgets God and forsakes God, certainly he is not punished the way the wicked are punished, but that does not mean that we escape chastisement. Our chastisement can be very easy, very gentle, or it can be very difficult. Most of you know, Alice and I have identical twins. When those little girls were little girls, Man, I had to stay on top of them. I had to whip them all the time, because one was always egging the other and encouraging the other. And I mean, that's just the way it was. And they got plenty of whippings. Our baby daughter, to be honest, I don't ever really remember whipping her. I may have once or twice, but I don't remember it. And the reason I never whipped her, or hardly ever whipped her, if I did, is because when she would do something wrong, I would look at her and I would say, Rebecca, and she would drop her head and she would start sobbing. Oh, Daddy, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please forgive me, Daddy. I'll never do that, please. I mean, she was broken just because I looked at her and just because I spoke to her harshly. Well, what is it you want when you discipline a child? You want humility? You want obedience? Why in the world would I whip that child when I got what I wanted without whipping the child? You see what I'm saying? God deals with us the same way. There are some of us He may have to take to the closet and just wear the living daylights out. Others, He can just say, whoa. and we are broken, and God says, that's what I want, a broken and contrite heart, I'll not despise it. Now, let me show you. I said that when a Christian forgets God, he forsakes God. It may be temporary, but he still forgets and he still forsakes. What are some of the consequences? You remember what David said in Psalm 66 and verse 18? Think about this one. David said, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Well, hold on, back up. If I regard iniquity, what does the word regard mean? You're thinking highly of it. You like it. You're holding it in your heart. You want it there. You're enjoying it. If I regard iniquity in my heart, what is the response? What's God's response? The Lord will not hear me. In other words, we've forgotten God, we've forsaken his word, we've forsaken his law, we're regarding that in our hearts, which he said, don't regard in your heart. And I said, Lord will not hear me. And sometimes when God chastens us, he gives us a taste of our own medicine. Because when we are needful and we really want him and we cry to him. And guess what? The heavens seem to be brass and we can't get through. And we think we have been forgotten, we have been forsaken. And God says, yeah. That's exactly the way you treated me. Now, let me show you something. Look in your Bibles to Isaiah 54, Isaiah 54, and I want you to look at verses 7 and 8. Look what God says. Isaiah 54, Isaiah 54, look in verse 7. Look what God says. For a small moment, have I forsaken thee. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. Do you remember when David had sinned? He wrote seven penitential Psalms. Psalm 51 is the most famous. But you remember what David said in Psalm 51 in verse 12, where he's praying to God, he's confessing his sin, and then he says this, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. So oftentimes our chastisement As our prayers are not only unanswered, we lose the joy of our fellowship with the Lord. So let me put it to you like this. Think about this. I know parents who have grown children, and the children have nothing to do with their parents, will not even speak to them, much less visit them. I know grandchildren who refuse to even have anything to do with their grandparents, and sometimes their parents either. I'm going to tell you, as a father and as a grandfather, it would grieve me to no end, and it hurts to no end, if that's being done to me. It would grieve you and hurt you if it was being done to you. And if it grieves you and I on a human level and breaks our heart, What in the world does it do to our Heavenly Father when we forget Him and forsake Him? So let me put it to you very carefully. Those who forget and forsake the Lord for sin will realize forgetfulness and forsakenness when the Lord does not hear and answer their prayer, and when they do not have the joy of their salvation. Heaven will seem to be brass for a while. But God said, I will have mercy upon you. I will forsake you, but for a moment, just so you realize what it means to forget and forsake me. Now, let me close with this. I want to encourage you to do something. I want to encourage you to make sure that you read the Scripture every day. I want to encourage you that you not just read the scripture every day, but you concentrate and meditate at least on a paragraph or a passage or a verse, something. I tell people I'd much rather read one chapter and understand it than I had read 20 chapters and not understand a thing that I've read. And here's something I would like to challenge you to do. You try this. I can assure you I've done it, and I can tell you it works. If you will take a book of the Bible, take a small book, take a book like Galatians, six chapters, book like Ephesians, six chapters, book like Philippians, four chapters, take a small book and read through that book completely every day for 30 days. You will be amazed at what's going to happen if you would faithfully read through that entire book every day for 30 days. You say, what's going to happen? Well, first of all, your Bible is going to automatically open in that book next time you open it. But number two, and more importantly, you will begin to see the theme of that book. You'll see the purpose for the writing. You will understand everything about that book. And the third thing is this. If you would pay attention to what chapter you're in and what verse you're in when you're reading and you're reading the same thing every day for 30 days straight, you'll be astounded that you will be memorizing Scripture without even trying to memorize Scripture. And you'll know where the Scripture is located because you read it over and over and over so many times. And you'll be putting the Word of God in your mind so you can keep your thoughts filled with His Word. When God's Word is in your mind, God is in your mind. When your heart is near to His Word, your heart is near to Him. I've often thought about this when God said, but my people, have forsaken me days without number. It undoubtedly grieves the heart of our Father when we fail to remember Him and to love Him and to fellowship with Him. Don't forget Him. The way that we normally forget Him is by forgetting His Word. Our thoughts are not filled with His truth. Fill your mind with the Word of God.