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How Easily We Forget

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• Title of the message is "How Easily We Forget." How easily we forget. Deuteronomy 4 and verse 9, God says, "Only take heed to thyself and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life, but teach them thy sons and thy sons' sons." So the truth is how easily we do indeed forget.

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• I suppose probably two of the most famous words, or at least two of the words that are spoken probably more often than any others are, "I forgot." We may use similar phrases like, "Well, it slipped my mind," or "I guess I was just not thinking." But regardless of what phrase we use, it all boils down to the fact that we just simply forget. And the truth of the matter is, as we age, the more we forget. And at least the older we get, the more willing we are to admit that we just simply forgot. I remember when Alice's mother, Granny Doris, was alive and she was beginning to really get forgetful.

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• And so we got her some ginkgo biloba to take to help her memory. And so one Sunday we were riding to church and in the back seat, she said, "I think that stuff is really helping me." And I said, "Helping what, Granny?" She said, "It's helping my memory." I said, "Well, that's wonderful. What stuff is that?" She said, "I forget." We had to remind her it was ginkgo biloba. But the truth is we normally forget little things. Many times we forget big things and important things as well. One of my fears all of my life, that one of these days I would slip up and forget a meeting or preaching appointment that I had. I never have, thankfully, but it's still, you know, used to weigh on my mind a lot. And of course, I would write everything down. But I wanted to make sure that I did not slip up and forget something that important. And one day, just to show you how we forget, Alice and I were at home and our girls started calling us and wishing us happy anniversary, and we looked at each other because both of us had forgotten it. Now

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• it would have been bad had I just forgotten it. But thankfully she forgot it as well. So we just kind of laughed and remarked about how busy we had been.

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• Now I want you to look back at Deuteronomy 4 because I want to read verse 9 and this time I want to go to verse 10. And look, if you would, what is said. Here is a warning. Here is an admonition. God says, "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 thine heart all the days of thy life, but teach them thy sons," that is your children, "and thy sons' sons," your grandchildren. And then he says, specially, or specifically, "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 they may teach their children." Now God says they were not to forget the things that they had seen, and certainly that would include all of the miracles and the judgments of God. They were to keep them in their hearts.

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• They were to keep them in their minds. They were to pass them on to their children and to their children's children. And then God singled out specifically the day that they had heard the voice of the Lord. Now I want you to note he said in verse 9, "Only take heed to thyself and keep thyself diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen." So that would be the works of God. So he says make sure that you remember the works of God. Now if you will skip down to verse 23, Deuteronomy chapter 4, he says this, "Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of anything which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee." Now notice he is now warning about forgetting the covenant of God. So let me put it like this, when you forget the works of God, the next step is to forget the covenant of God. And what we fail to realize is the word testament is the same word as covenant.

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• So we talk about the old covenant and the new covenant, or the Old Testament and the New Testament, because the word covenant and testament are one and the same. So in the old covenant, Israel forgot that covenant. In our day and age it is Christians who are forgetting the New Covenant. And of course God is saying we better beware. So you have to ask yourself something like this, how often do you really think about the Word of God? How often do you think about His promises, His warnings, His admonitions, His commands?

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• The truth of the matter is we easily, readily, and quickly forget many things that are relating to the Lord. We forget our profession of faith. We forget our promises that we made unto Him. We forget the oath that we took at our baptism. We forget the fact that we said that Jesus Christ is Lord.

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• Now God has warned about forgetting the works of God. Then He warns about forgetting the covenant of God. So let me put it like this. Here is the progression. Here are the steps. You first forget the works of God. Then you forget the covenant of God. And then thirdly, you forget God. It is a wicked, vile, and evil step. But you remember what Paul said about Demas, "Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present evil world."

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• And when you look around you will find a lot of people, even professing Christians, that love their addictions, and they love their lusts, and they love their flesh more than the grace, and mercy, and salvation of God. Now I want to just show you very quickly four passages, four passages where God is warning us about forgetting. So if you look in Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 12, Deuteronomy 6 verse 12, God says, "Then beware lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage." So when you forget His works and then you forget His covenant, then you forget Him. So here is the warning, lest you forget the Lord. Look in Deuteronomy 8 and verse 11. Deuteronomy 8 verse 11, "Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping His commandments and His judgments and His statutes which I command thee this day." So note if you would please, if you forget Him, you've already forgotten His covenant because you're not going to keep, you're not going to obey. Skip down to verse 14, Deuteronomy 8 verse 14, "Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the

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• land of Egypt from the house of bondage." And then look at verse 19, "And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish." So I want you to note again here are the steps or the progressions in which we travel in forgetting God. You forget His works, you forget His covenant, and then you forget Him. Now forgetting His covenant leads to forgetting Him. Moreover, when we forget God, we always replace Him with something else. Go back to verse 19 again. Look at it, Deuteronomy 8 verse 19, "And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish." Wow. You see, when you forget God you actually replace God. Anything that is put in the place of God is idolatry. We forget the fact that the Scripture says in Colossians 3 and verse 5 that covetousness is idolatry.

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• We also forget what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3 and verse 19 when he talks about these people whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. So you've got to understand that when you forget God you replace Him with your own lust, with your own desires, with your own covetousness. You may not fall down before a graven image. You may not fall down before something made of silver or gold or brass or wood or stone. But you have replaced God because you've elevated yourself and your desires and your lust ahead of God. Now, let me ask you a question. Do you remember how God delivered Israel out of the land of Egypt? Another question would be this, do you remember the displays of His mighty power in delivering Israel out of the land of Egypt?

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• I want to just take the time to show you four passages. And I had to be selective because there are many passages that refer to this. It's interesting as you read through the Bible you will find how often God talks about His mighty hand, His stretched out arm, and the miracles that He did and performed in delivering the children of Israel out of Egypt. So, look in your Bibles first of all to Deuteronomy chapter 4 and go to verse 34. In fact let's read verse 33, Deuteronomy 4 verse 33 and 34. Here's the question, "Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?" So these people heard the voice of God. Now watch verse 34, "Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?" But notice if you would please he talks about the temptations, the signs,

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• the wonders, war, a mighty hand, a stretched-out arm, terrors, and he said you saw all of this. Look if you would to Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verse 19. Deuteronomy 7 in verse 19, God is talking about how they are going to conquer their enemies, but he says this, "The great temptations which thine eyes saw, signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out," that is from Egypt, "so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid." God said, you've just got to remember what I did. You've got to remember my mighty hand, my outstretched arm, the signs, the wonders. Look if you would in Deuteronomy chapter 26 and verse 8. Deuteronomy 26 and verse 8, again in fact we can read verse 7, look at verse 7, "And when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labor, and our oppression, and the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a

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• mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terribleness and with signs and with wonders." And then if you would turn right over to Deuteronomy 34. Deuteronomy 34 and look if you would please at verses 11 and 12. Deuteronomy 34 verses 11 and 12, "In all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land, and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel." Now, these four passages, and there are a multitude of other passages, that speak then of God's mighty hand, His outstretched arm, His signs, His wonders, His terribleness, and His terrors that He demonstrated upon the Egyptians.

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• And He is also emphasizing the fact that these people saw this with their own eyes. Now, my question is this, how long do you think it would take for someone who saw these things firsthand to forget them? Or would it even be possible to ever forget them? Well, let's make this a little more personal. Okay? Here's how I want to make it personal. Let's suppose that you were alive in Egypt at this particular time. You're an Israelite. You're alive when God comes in mighty power to deliver you out of the land of Egypt.

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• Now, you not only witnessed the ten plagues, but in each one of these plagues, you were exempted. You saw the plagues upon the Egyptians, but they did not come nigh unto you, or your family, or your people. So I want you to hold Deuteronomy, but I want you to go back in your Bibles to the book of Exodus. And let's begin there with chapter 11. And let me show you what God says and you are going to see this several times. But look in Exodus chapter 11 and verse 7. Look what the Bible says. Exodus chapter 11 and verse 7. The Bible says, "But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel." Now God says, listen, there's not even a dog going to bark. He's not going to move his tongue against any of the Israelites or any of their beasts. Just so that you know, I put a difference between my people and the Egyptians when the plagues hit.

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• The Israelites were unaffected. For instance, the grievous murrain that fell upon the cattle that killed them, the cattle of the Israelites were exempted. For instance, look in Exodus chapter 9 and let's read there verses 4 through 7. Exodus chapter 9, notice verses 4 through 7. Notice what is said again, "And the Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the children of Israel. And the Lord appointed a set time, saying, Tomorrow the Lord shall do this thing in the land. And the Lord did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one. And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go." Isn't that interesting? Do you realize that when the plague of darkness hit, the children of Israel had light in their dwellings? Look in the book of Exodus chapter 10 in verses 22 and 23.

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• Exodus 10 verse 22, the Bible says, "And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings." You know there is an old joke that used to be told all the time when I was a kid, "Where was Moses when the lights went out?"

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• And the standard answer is, "In the dark." But he wasn't in the dark, the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. And I want you to note the Bible talks about here a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. A number of years back, Alice and I took a couple of our grandkids. We were out in Utah, and we walked a mile up a mountain and went into the Timpanogos Cave. Utah, not a huge cave. We walked all back through in those caverns and got in this one huge room. And the ranger said, "Now, I want you to stand still. Do not move. You have to stand absolutely still."

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• And he reached over, or she was a woman, reached over and turned the lights off. We were probably half a mile in that mountain underground. You could have held your hand right here. You couldn't see anything. It was nothing but absolute, total, thick, black darkness. And that is what happened here for three days. They couldn't even move. And the children of Israel were exempted. Wow!

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• Now, let me ask you this, and I want you to think about this because I'm going to make an application in just a little while. I've already said, suppose you were in Egypt. Suppose you're an Israelite. And God now is going to send these ten plagues and He's going to sever His people from the Egyptians. You're going to see it with your own eyes, but it's not going to affect you. So, let me just remind you of the ten plagues.

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• You were there when the rivers were turned to blood and all the fish died and began to stink in Exodus chapter 7. Secondly, you were there when the frogs came out of the river and enveloped the land. And you remember they had frogs in their cooking vessels. They had frogs in their bed. They had frogs everywhere. But there were no frogs in your house. But you were there and you saw it. And then there was a third plague, you saw the dust of the land turned into lice, lice upon man and beast in Exodus chapter 8. You were there and you saw that, but there was no lice on you. And when you get to the fourth plague you saw the swarms of flies. And everybody hates a fly. I mean, they're dirty. They corrupt everything. And I read this years ago, and I don't know if it's true or not, but I heard and I read that every time a fly lit he spit. Now whether it's true or not, I don't know. But that's what I read anyhow. But let me show you something, look in Exodus chapter 8.

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• Notice if you would please, Exodus chapter 8 beginning there with verse 22. Exodus 8 verse 22, "And God said, And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen," that's where the Israelites were, "and I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. And I will put a division between my people and thy people: tomorrow shall this sign be." So out of all those corrupt, dirty, filthy flies they were all in Egypt, they were not in the land of Goshen.

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• You saw that, you were there. And then fifthly you saw the grievous murrain upon your enemy's cattle. You saw their cattle die while your cattle prospered. And then sixthly you saw the boils and the blains breaking out upon man and beast in Exodus chapter 9, and yet you were spared and your animals were spared. And then seventhly, you saw the thunderstorm with fire and hail, destroying everything. For instance, look in Exodus chapter 9 and verse 24, Exodus 9 verse 24. The Bible said, "So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation." You saw all this. You were there. Then the eighth plague was the plague of locusts and you saw those locusts in Exodus chapter 10 how they totally darkened out the sky and they destroyed everything. Wow. Ninthly you saw the darkness that fell upon the Egyptians in Exodus chapter 10 and yet you were spared because you had light in your dwellings. Then the tenth plague you saw the anguish, and the heartache, and you heard the cries and the screams of everyone in Egypt who lost their firstborn child, and yet your firstborn lived.

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• You not only saw all of this, you understood something else about these plagues. What did you understand? Well, look in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 12 and verse 12. Here is what you understood. Watch carefully. Exodus 12 and verse 12, the Bible says, God is speaking, "For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord." So these plagues were not just simply against the people, the Egyptians, they were against all the false gods. Even Pharaoh claimed to be a god but he could not save his own child. So all the gods of Egypt are proven to be worthless, useless, helpless, and no gods.

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• And so now you know, having seen all of these mighty miracles, all these mighty exhibits of power and greatness, now you know there's only one true and living God who's revealed Himself as the great I Am. There is no other God. You were also there. Pharaoh thought you were bottled up at the Red Sea. And he chased you and was going to destroy you. And if you look in Exodus chapter 14, Exodus chapter 14 and let's begin reading there with verse 26.

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• Please remember you were there. The Egyptians were chasing you. Watch, verse 26, "And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them;

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• there remained not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore." So you saw the waters divided. You walked across on dry ground. And then when all of your friends and all of your people got across safely, you turned and looked and Moses raised his rod and the waters came in and every soldier of Pharaoh, including Pharaoh, drowned in the sea. You saw their dead bodies on the shore. So here's my question.

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• How long would it take you to forget this? Or how could you forget this? Well, I want you to go back to Exodus chapter 12. I want to show you something. Look in Exodus chapter 12. I want to read the first six verses. Okay? Because this is the Passover. This is where God is delivering the children of Israel out of the land. Notice Exodus chapter 12 verse 1. Look what he says. "And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month," which happened to be Abib, "this month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you." So Abib had to be the first month on their Hebrew calendar every year hereafter. Okay? "Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: and if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls;

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• every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening." Notice if you would, Abib 14. That is the date of the Passover.

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• That is when the lamb was killed. That is when the blood was applied to the lintel and the doorpost. How are they to eat it? Well, I want you to look in verse 11. God says, "And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, with your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord's passover." So they killed it on the 14th and they left then on the 15th of Abib. Okay? So God has said, here it is. You're going out of the land. You've killed the lamb. You've applied the blood and you're leaving on Abib 15 because you're eating that Passover with your shoes on your feet, your loins are girded, your staff in your hand. You're ready to leave. Now look in Exodus chapter 13 and let's begin reading there with verse 3. Exodus chapter 13 and verse 3, "And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you

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• out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten. This day came ye out in the month Abib. And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord. Now watch, unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters. And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lord's law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong

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• hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt. Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year."

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• Now, note if you would please, God brought them out on the 15th, okay? Now God says you're going to commemorate this, because your eyes have seen what I have done. Here has been a demonstration of God's mighty power, miracles, signs, wonders, terribleness, terrors. How long would it take you to forget all of this? I mean, if God had done this for you personally, surely you could not forget it. You could not forget God's deliverance, His protection, His power. Or could you?

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• Wow. Well, let's look in Exodus chapter 15. And let's begin reading there with verse 22. Help me out now. Remember, they have gone out on the 15th. Exodus 15, verse 22. "So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them." Three days and they are already complaining. Already whining, "Well, we are going to perish out here. I mean we don't have any water." Look at everything God had already done to get them out of Egypt and in three days they are complaining.

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• Now skip down to chapter 16. Watch, "And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt." They left the 15th day of the first month, so 30 days, one month. So they came on the 15th day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt, "and the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: and the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger." In one month. In one month, they're saying, "Would to God we had died in Egypt." And notice what they're talking about. They're saying that, boy, we had it made in Egypt.

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• We had the flesh pots there. We had the leeks and the onions and the garlics. And oh, man, we loved it there in Egypt. And here they'd rather die as slaves in Egypt than be the Lord's free men in the desert. Three days they're complaining, in 30 days they've forgotten everything. Wow. Look in Exodus chapter 17. In Exodus chapter 17 beginning there with verse 1, "And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink." Now let me just stop. In Exodus 14 God killed all the Egyptians. In Exodus 15 you had the war song of the Lord. In Exodus chapter 16, we just saw 30 days later, according to the context, if we took the time to read all of Exodus 16, you would find that Exodus 17 happens one week later. So look in verse 2, "Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou

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• hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?" Can you believe this? Three days, 30 days, 37 days. And how easily we forget. You would think that something like the Passover, something like all of the plagues, something like the destruction of Pharaoh and his armies, we could never forget. Well, let me show you something. Do you remember when Moses got to Sinai, how God came down on the mountain, smoke and thunder and fire and lightning? Look in Exodus chapter 19 and verse 16. Exodus chapter 19 verse 16, "And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a

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• thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up." Now, I want you to understand that Moses goes up to get the law.

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• So he's up supposedly 40 days, okay? Now, I want you to hold Exodus chapter 19, please. But turn in your Bibles, Exodus chapter 32. What happens while Moses is up in the mount? We're going to come back to Exodus chapter 19. But remember now, it really hadn't been three months. Exodus chapter 32 verse 1, "And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him."

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• And Aaron said unto them, "Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me." And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord." And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play," literally to commit fornication. And the Lord said unto Moses, "Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:

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• they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

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• Now you know when Moses came down out of that mountain he was very angry, very upset, and of course he broke the Law. He threw down those tablets that the Lord had written with His own finger.

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• Now go back to Exodus chapter 19. Look in Exodus chapter 19, "In the third month," 90 days, "in the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount. And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.

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• Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine." Now, note what he said, "in the third month." So, here are three days, and then 30 days, and now 90 days, and Moses is up in the... he doesn't even get to finish the 40 days. So in less than four months, these people have made a golden calf, and are worshiping it, and saying, "These be thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

  #46 | 42:36 to 43:16 | cleaned

• You cannot explain that to me unless you explain it like this. They forgot the works of God. They forgot the covenants of God. They forgot God, and then they replaced Him. Anytime you forget God, you replace Him. Stop and think. If you had been there, would not the mighty power of God and the judgments of God made an impression upon you so that you think you could have never forgotten? And look how easily and how quickly they forgot.

  #47 | 43:19 to 44:11 | cleaned

• You know, that is exactly what has happened in our day and time. We've forgotten the works of God, the covenant of God, and we've forgotten God and we've replaced Him with all kinds of things. Have you ever noticed how easily and how quickly we forget our promises, our profession, our obedience? I have preached for 53 years. I suppose if the Lord lets me make it till May, it'll be 54 years.

  #48 | 44:14 to 45:01 | cleaned

• I have been called to bedsides where children are dying, husbands are dying, wives are dying. And I've had those people say, "Brother Weaver, please pray. Please ask God to spare my child. God to spare my wife. Ask God to spare my husband. And if the Lord will be pleased to do that, I will serve Him. I will be faithful to Him. I will worship Him. I will do this. I will do that." And I pray. And somehow God miraculously spares that child or that husband or that wife. And guess what? They are faithful for about two weeks and then it is over. Isn't that amazing? How quickly we forget what God has done for us.

  #49 | 45:03 to 45:54 | cleaned

• There's a passage that I try to quote every day. I'm not going to say I've been successful every day, but I probably have. But if I haven't, I usually make it up by quoting it two or three times a day anyhow. The passage in Lamentations 3:22-23, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."

  #50 | 45:57 to 46:22 | cleaned

• I cannot even pass a cross on the side of the road where someone has died in a wreck without me thanking God for life and health and thanking God for His protection and His preservation. I'm just simply pointing out the fact we forget how gracious, how kind, how good, how generous, how blessed we are by the grace and the goodness of God. Well, I want you to turn to two passages and I'll close with these two. I want you to turn to Revelation chapter 2 and Jeremiah chapter 2. Find, if you would, Jeremiah and then find Revelation chapter 2. In Revelation chapter 2, God is dealing with the church of Ephesus. And I want you to note what he says to the church of Ephesus. Revelation 2 and verse 1. He says, "Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;" He tells the church, "I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience,

  #51 | 46:23 to 47:54 | cleaned

• and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted." Those are some good things. But notice this last one. "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee." Why? "Because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." Nevertheless, I am somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Do you remember when God first saved you? Do you remember the zeal you had?

  #52 | 47:55 to 48:47 | cleaned

• The desire you had to pray, to read the Scriptures and study? Do you remember the desire that you had to witness? Do you remember how you could not do enough, you thought, to serve the Lord and to help His people? You remember all of those things. And now we don't have them. And what does He say? You need to remember. And then he says, you need to repent. "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do thy first works."

  #53 | 48:48 to 49:28 | cleaned

• How quickly we forget, how easily we forget all that God has done for us and all the promises, all the love and all the energy that we used to have in serving Him. As you turn back in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 2, I want to show you a verse. I hope it will really break your heart. My question would be this, would you want God to treat you the way you treat Him?

  #54 | 49:31 to 50:11 | cleaned

• Years ago, Alice and I saw a movie that was just simply entitled "Cromwell." It was on the life of Oliver Cromwell. I think Richard Harris is the actor that played Cromwell. And of course, he was fighting for liberty and freedom in England against Charles I. And one of the scenes that I remember out of that movie, it's a really old, old movie, was Richard Harris was on a horse running back and forth, trying to marshal his forces in order to fight the forces of Charles the First. And he prayed a prayer as he was riding on that horse.

  #55 | 50:16 to 51:05 | cleaned

• And he said this, I've never forgotten it. "Lord, I shall be busy this day about many things. Lord, if I forget thee, do not thou forget me." Wow. I do not want God to treat me the way I treat Him. Look in Jeremiah 2 and verse 32. Look what God asked. Jeremiah 2 verse 32, "Can a maid forget her ornaments?" No woman is going to forget her jewelry. "Can a bride forget her attire?" No bride is going to forget her wedding dress or her veil. God says, "Yet my people have forgotten me days without number." Wow! And what did Deuteronomy 4 verse 9 say? "Take heed to thyself. And take heed diligently to thy soul, lest thou forget." And when you forget the works of God, you end up forgetting the covenant of God. And when you forget the covenant of God, you forget God. And you end up replacing Him with the idol of self, and flesh, and pride,

  #56 | 51:07 to 52:47 | cleaned

• and anything else that you put before Him. "My people have forgotten me days without number." Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee this day. We thank You for Your love. We thank You for Your grace, Your mercy. And Father, we do admonish ourselves and also, Lord, admit and confess that we have forgotten Thee. Oftentimes, days without number. We forget Thy works, Thy covenant, and Thy person. We ask divine forgiveness. We ask for mercy. We ask for repentance. We ask, Lord, that You'd help us to turn to Thee with all of our hearts.

  #57 | 52:49 to 53:40 | cleaned

• For Thou hast said, "Thou shalt seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all of your heart." Lord, help us to do that. And give us grace that we may serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. In Thy name we pray, amen.

  #58 | 53:41 to 54:01 | cleaned

• so so

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T13:43:16Z