Beware lest Thou Forget the Lord

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Praise God this morning for the privilege of being here. Turn with me to Deuteronomy 6, and I have entitled to the message, Beware Lest Thou Forget the Lord. Deuteronomy 6 verses 10 to 16 we will read and I'll begin reading in verse 10 [00:00:35] And it shall be when the Lord thy God hath brought thee into the land which he sware unto the fathers and to Abraham and Isaac and to Jacob and to give thee great and goodly cities which thou buildest not and houses full of good things which thou fillest not and wells digged which thou diggest not, vineyards and olive trees which thou plantest not When thou shalt have eaten and be full, then beware lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt and the house of bondage. [00:01:06] Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. Ye shall not go after the other gods of the people which are around about you. For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you, lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee off the face of the earth. Then verse 16, Yet ye shall not tempt the Lord your God. It goes on as your forefathers did. [00:01:40] But here we notice something, it's saying, Beware lest thou forget the Lord. Do you actually believe that we have an enemy that hates us? that hates our souls. Do you believe that? We had that question asked. We know these things. We sometimes say these things with our words coming from our mouth. But what is our innermost feeling concerning that? Do you really believe that we have an adversary that wants to destroy you? Do you really believe God knows the way He operates? [00:02:17] Do you think He knows that? Do you really believe God's instructions can help us to be victorious over that? I believe so too. God knows these things. He tells us here in the Scripture. He knows the tendencies of man. Why did He say, when things start going well with you, that you're going to forget Me? Here we notice people who were in suppression. And we heard older people say that they are wishing for the suppression they had [00:02:49] because they see the way the church is going. And it's not good. They're going the way of the world. They're going away from God rather than toward God. The batiks are getting smaller. The hair becoming trimmed, trimmed shorter and shorter and shorter. And the same churches that would have never done that. The dresses become immodest and they sit in the congregation to where we almost have to do like we go to the bank, we have to shield our eyes. [00:03:22] Or when we go into the stores, we have to shield our eyes. But it's in the church. Do we have problems like that? not only that, the doctrine of not, that there's a difference in dress between the male and the female those things are disappearing girls coming with slacks, shorts, other things I don't think I've seen shorts in a church but I've seen slacks already [00:03:54] but how much time does it take for shorts to appear When we lose the focus that we have, and that's the thing we'd like to look at this morning. When thou art full, when the difficulties go away and we have freedom, we have a reprieve from sufferings, the things we all like, things we enjoy here, we don't have as much of. But at one time they didn't have that. What happens when things start going good? [00:04:26] The Bible tells us, beware. That's the tactic that Satan, he's ready to attack us at those times. When things start going good, we have a tendency to slack off a little bit. We don't read like we should. We don't share one with another as we should. And we begin to become slack. And then is when Satan likes to be there. And he starts implanting his ways. [00:05:02] Beware lest we forget. How can a person forget when he has received so many things? And we notice that and we struggle with that at the orphanage where we have helped those people. Many people have given of not their abundance but maybe probably many times out of that which they would have liked to do They shared with those over there so that they would have a good beginning And we see time and time again where there's a lack of appreciation for that [00:05:37] In fact they hold out their hand and they say give me more It's just the human nature of us And it's the way Satan comes in and we're no different We need to be very careful of our own selves because we can do the same. We can do the very same ourselves as missionaries. We can say, well, we need a better van because this is causing us a lot of trouble. See, how about it? We can have those kind of concepts rather than saying, this will do. [00:06:09] This is good enough. It meets our need. We don't have to have the best. We need to watch our ideals. How can we forget when we receive so many things? There's three different ways I thought of that Satan uses to destroy that thanksgiving that we talked about in our Sunday school lesson or that was prevalent there about being thankful. We need to, first of all, keep our focus right. [00:06:43] Our focus needs to stay here. We need to recognize that the things that we have, the blessings and the peace that's in our heart is not an accomplishment of ourselves, but it's that which God has given us. And if God has given us, then let's glorify Him. And when we glorify Him, we recognize that we can't do it ourselves. We need to continually ask for His grace again. We need to keep the focus right. And if we do that, we're beginning to see that we're not going to forget God [00:07:20] because we notice that's the main purpose that we have what we have. Number two, desiring a more sensational worship. That's another trick that Satan uses to help us to forget. You know, we go through an experience and we heard Brother Laverne share something that was very important to him this week and that was a blessing to him and it blesses us to hear that. And so those things strengthen us. [00:07:53] But then maybe the next six weeks not too much will happen. And so it becomes humdrum and well, am I, is there really things, are we really on the right track? But, you know, when we have something sensational happen, when we do things that appeal to our senses, then it revives us, you know. Oh, yes, we're on the right track. Yeah, this here, the Lord's speaking to me. It feels good. It's got to be right. [00:08:27] That's the second thing. We'll go into that a little more. Number three, not believing the enemy's purposes to deceive and destroy. A blindedness to what the ultimate goal is of the devil. Let's go on again going back to number one, the wrong focus. The scriptures tell us in verse 10, thou shalt fear the Lord and serve him. It says there in verse 10, verse 13, that's what I wanted to say. [00:09:00] Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve Him, and shalt swear by His name. Now, we're not supposed to swear, but I think what it's talking there is to be convinced of His name. There's no other doubt in anything else except that name alone. That's Him. That's who I will look to, will serve. There's nothing that will distract me from it. I am convinced of that. And we become convinced as we give our lives or our desires unto Him and allow Him to govern us. [00:09:36] And then we become convinced because He gives us proofs of those things. As Laverne said, as we look into the Word of God and all at once He reveals truth to us, there's different ways that He demonstrates to us that He is the Lord. We notice also that the first commandment, or the ten commandments, says thou shalt have no other gods before thee. That's what Satan often liked to do, is to present some other gods, to take away the focus of the true God. [00:10:12] There is only one real God, and we know that. But do we experience that? Do we know it in our heart? We also, as we have a wrong focus, we can, some of these things can take place and we worship. And the first thing we know, we can become proud and we take credit to the things that are happening to ourselves rather than to God. We don't glorify Him. We, oh, this worked. [00:10:43] This is great. And then someone asks, well, what did you do? And then you say, I did so and so. Well, that's all right. We are to testify what we maybe did. But we need to be careful. That's Satan's technique that he uses to try to get us side shifted a little bit. And we start taking the credit. And then finally, especially in health issues, these things work for me. and then we find out that I've shared it with you that you might receive the benefit of some of these health issues that you were using [00:11:21] and you discover they didn't use them. And what happens in your ideals? Huh, they don't even listen to what I had to say. Wrong focus. We start focusing on ourselves and we have a wrong concept. Excellent situation to be taken and forgetting God We start focusing on ourselves We have the scripture portion there in the New Testament where it says The rich man had bountiful harvest, but what did he do? [00:11:55] He thought he had it all in order And he had it all planned out Eat, drink, and be merry The credit all went to him Bigger buildings, newer buildings, the Lord is blessing us greatly. But God said, because he was disappointed, because he took the credit to himself and didn't give the glory to God, This night thy soul shall be required of thee. Let's be careful not to forget the Lord. [00:12:27] Number two, desire more sensational worship. Having a worship that has action and appeals to the five senses versus trusting God in faith Things that we see and do Now if you go over to Romania, you will see that there's many religions over there We see some that are, you know, the Baptists, and we can endorse their belief and the way they do things [00:12:57] It took them through many trials and a suppressive time, and they've come through victorious. We also notice other things like the Orthodox Church, which is similar to the Catholic. I can explain that later. I'm not going to do it over the pulpit here. But they're similar, but they have some differences. They say they are not the same. Maybe the simplest way is to say they're kind of like the Amish and the Mennonite. [00:13:29] The basis is the same, but they have some different things. Anyhow, many idolatrous religions have images and icons. They have cathedrals, huge cathedrals, and monasteries are what the Orthodox call it, and practices that satisfy and tingle the fleshly desires of men. How do you feel when you go into a great cathedral and you look way up there and it's just beautiful. [00:14:03] You wonder how they did it. And it was done hundreds and hundreds of years ago. There's just something happens on the inside. That's the senses taking over. It's not the Holy Spirit. God says he wants the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts and lives And I like the tingling when God moves in our hearts and draws us to thee And we can do that in years gone by in the cellar or out in the woods or in the cave [00:14:38] Damn, dingy But their heart was with God and the Spirit was moving And there was a tingling there because the Spirit was there They're moving. Their faith was strengthened. Let's be careful what tingling we're listening to. Question I've often had, why is immorality so often associated with idol worship? Because it pleases the flesh. It's something that appeals to the senses. But it's wrong. We know what the scriptures say, but they often mix it together. [00:15:17] It was in the Bible times. It's still today. Let's be careful. What senses are we listening to? Are we listening to the sense of God by His Spirit or do we allow the senses of the flesh to rule in what we wear and what we do and how we worship? Are we concerned about what music maybe does? Is there something wrong with music, musical instruments, the charisma, the social activities that many churches have? [00:15:56] But what's the basis? Is God inspiring it? What happens when the music is turned loud? What happens in your body? Do the senses rule? Many times it does. It stirs the senses. And then is that worship? It's a wrong kind of worship. It's not the right kind. Let's be careful. Who are we listening to? These things are counterfeits and deceive from the true worship that God desires. Let's go to the last one here. By our actions we demonstrate that we don't believe that the enemy's purpose is out to destroy. What do you mean by that? [00:16:42] What do we mean by that? What about dating? That's an issue we often have to work with over there. Now dating, they don't date like we just talk together. They say, we don't date. We just talk. We're friends. We talk together. But they do, oh, they would hold hands. Oh, yeah. Well, we're just talking together. Um, the Bible tells us we show by our actions that we can walk on fire and will not be burned. [00:17:22] We tell the boys, you start those things, you're going to be burned. The Scriptures tell us in Proverbs 6.28, Can a man go on hot coals and his feet not be burned? The verse preceding that also talks about taking fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned. That's the Word of God. And we know it works that way. Those things deal with our five senses that many times if it's uncontrolled without God helping us, we can't control them. [00:18:00] And we will be burned. It's a principle that God has established. Our actions, now I was on dating. What about things in the church? What about principles of the church? What about standards? Can we demonstrate to others that we need standards? You know, that's the thing that I see is so crucial. And that's why I'm preaching this morning. You've been hearing it often in these walls. [00:18:31] I know you have. Over there, when the liberty came, they were unprepared for those tactics that Satan was going to throw in their face. And so, they don't know how to stand against this. They're feeling their way through. And they're not. Their step behind is what it is. How do they now stop some of those things that they can see that we should have been stronger on? We should have maybe established a standard. We should have been more strong on the standard. Because these things are coming in to burn them. And it's going to defile the young people who are going out. One generation. God calls us to accountability up to the third and the fourth generation. That's why it was such a blessing to be in the reunion and to see, Those that had generation after generation continued to be faithful. [00:19:26] That's a blessing because it strengthens and keeps the church, keeps God's Word continuing. There are those who have not done that. And how do we do that all? Do we lay the law and we become disciplinary or do we apply God's Word and God's principles in doing those things? It's not just the parents' responsibilities, but it's the youth and the younger ones coming on's responsibility to believe and accept those things and to trust that what the parents or the guardians [00:20:00] or those that are overseers of them, trust that what they say is going to be truth, even though they haven't experienced it. It's going to be right. We know that. I come from a setting, and back into the age of dating, I come from a setting where principles were not, in my family, were not enhanced so much. In fact, I had a brother that would enhance me the other way, and was trying to do those things for me. [00:20:35] And I had to accept by faith that what they say is true. that I will not be sorry if I follow the pattern. And I am not sorry. But Satan is relentless. Even after I was married and things were going the way that I expected it would because I believed it in faith, Satan comes around and he says, you really missed out. There are many that are the same way you are now and they did those things. [00:21:08] It was all right. You missed out. No, I call him a liar. I still do. It's not true. He's a deceiver. And that's one thing we need to recognize. And that's what I was thinking of here. Do you believe he's a deceiver? Do you believe that he tells you the untruth? Do you believe that he's out to get you and destroy you? We often don't. By our actions we prove it. Today, let's take, he goes on to say, beware. [00:21:41] Check your actions. What do we mean by beware? To be alert, to be watchful, to stand guard. Number two, to hold fast is a term that Paul, John uses in the New Testament. We also see the word steadfast coming up in relation to be on guard or ready so that we can beware of these things. To be alert, to be watchful, to be on guard. [00:22:14] Isaiah says, For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he sees. A watchman is to watch. He's not to sleep. He's to be on guard. And who's accountable if he does not say he's accountable? Do we count that important? Do we count a watchman's responsibility important enough to be on guard and to find ourselves alert and watchful? [00:22:51] Jesus said in Matthew 26, 41, Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. Then in Revelation 16, 15, he was talking about the second coming of Jesus. He says, blessed is he that is watchful and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame. We need to beware. We need to be watchful and ready or it will come back and it will be a shame to us. [00:23:26] 1 Thessalonians 5.21 says, Prove all things, hold fast that which is good. Prove by the Word, test it by the Holy Spirit, those things that might come to you or you might see. Does it hold water? Even when I'm preaching this afternoon, I want you to search the scriptures and look at these verses. [00:23:59] Find out if I'm saying the truth or not. Prove it. I don't want to deceive anyone, but you're accountable if you're deceived. If you allow and hear something and you accept it, that is not truth. It's your accountability. Be careful. Hebrews 4.14 says Seeing that ye have such a great high priest which has passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast to our profession [00:24:29] in verse 23 that same chapter says hold fast to that possession without wavering be convinced hold fast means to retain to cling to, to grip on Now, there's another aspect that hold fast brings out, and I like that. It also means to regain lost ground. I'm thankful for that. That's the work of grace in our lives. When we hold fast, we look at things as back in the Old Testament, [00:25:02] where they went in and they began cleaning out the temple, and then they found the Word of God. They found the book of the law. And they started reading it. And what happened? They went and they made things right. They put on sackcloth and sat in ashes because they were troubled. They had strayed so far, but they were ready to turn back. And if we go to Revelation, I'm not going to, it talks about the church there that had, the church was encouraged to hold fast that which remained and to strengthen that which was still there. [00:25:46] And then he goes on, he says, and repent. Repent tells us that we can regain lost ground. You can come back. He that overcometh, he's the one who is gaining or has regained lost ground. If we are overcomers, Jesus will forgive if we are sincere. And it tells us there in Revelation that if we overcome and we repent, we shall be clothed in white raiment, a raiment that's acceptable to God. [00:26:21] We will have our name in the book of life, and Jesus will confess his name before his Father which is in heaven. He will intercede for us. And how long shall we hold fast? In Revelation 2.25 it says, hold fast till I come. It's not just a now thing, it's a continual thing. We need to continue on and hold fast till he comes. Steadfast is very similar. When we beware, we are steadfast. [00:26:53] Steadfast means to be grounded, be firm, anchored and solid. Not stubborn, but it means being rooted and settled. Isaiah explains it very well where he says in Isaiah 28, 16, Therefore saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion a foundation, a sure stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. We have other scriptures relating to a firm foundation. One thing I want to point out in Philippians 1.27, it says, [00:27:29] Standing fast is enhanced by community. It says there that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. Giving us the idea that it's community, it's a church, and we help each other. Helping each other helps us to stand fast and be of one mind and to strive together. One-mindedness in Christ, one spirit, the Holy Spirit, to guide us, not dual. [00:28:05] No man can serve two masters and be able to see and be in the kingdom of God. Steadfastness calls for resistance, and I'll close with that. Steadfastness calls for resistance. We need, and 1 Peter 5, 9 says, whom resist steadfastly in the faith. Faith. We're talking about our adversary, the devil, walking around as a roaring lion, seeking who he may devour. He's the one we are to steadfastly resist in the faith. [00:28:38] But we need to recognize, again, that we can't stand against our adversary on our own. It's only by the power of God. We are no match for him. Isaiah 59 19 says when the enemy shall come in like a flood the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him and if we are called to be his disciples we have the spirit of the Lord within us and we can lift up a standard and we need not be afraid may the grace of God lift up a standard of Jesus Christ our Lord and be aware lest we forget the Lord we forget the Lord [00:29:21] We will suffer loss, and possibly we will suffer the loss of our posterity also. Let's remember, let's not beware lest you forget the Lord. And that's found by trusting in God and claiming Him for our complete victory. Shall we kneel in prayer?