The Forgotten God!

Jeremiah 2:28-32

The Literary Digest of September 15, 1923, states: "History knows no disaster, which parallels
the earthquake and fire that visited Japan this month and laid waste the capital city and the chief seaport."

The New York Tribune called this earthquake: "Undoubtedly the greatest disaster in recorded time."

The New York Times described the havoc as covering about 45,000 square miles, which contained
five large cities and a population of 7 million.

Other news articles reported that virtually every building in Yokohama was destroyed.
Perhaps three-fourths of Tokyo was burned, and the entire city with its 5 million inhabitants
was shattered by the earthquake.

A joint survey made by Secretary Hoover and the Red Cross estimated the dead
at almost 300,000 with 2,500,000 people homeless.
Disease and despair rode throughout the island empire.
Then help came!
Help came from America for helpless Japan!

Food, clothing, medical supplies, money, and volunteer workers came by the shipload.
The American Red Cross collected $10 million from the people of the United States for the suffering
and homeless Japanese people.
Those who lived through the awful earth tremors, the gigantic waves, and the tongues of fire
seemed doomed to die from starvation or disease.
But they did not... because America remembered.
America remembered their need, their suffering, and their hunger.

The Japanese were grateful.
They put their appreciation in writing.
Walter Keirman, correspondent for the International News Service, recalls their words:
"Japan will never forget!"
But Japan did forget!

American ships of mercy were forgotten, and the rising Sun sent planes of destruction in return.
On Dec. 7,1941, Japanese airplanes brought death and destruction to Pearl Harbor.
The Rising Sun proclaimed that they would bring America to its knees, and that America would beg for mercy.
The Japanese are not the only ones who have overlooked past mercies.

Long ago, the Lord said of Israel: "My people have forgotten me days without number."
(Jeremiah 2:32)
God had truly blessed Israel, but they forgot.
They forgot that: "The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God."
(Psalm 9:17)

Adam forgot and lost Paradise.
Samson forgot and was shorn of his strength.
Saul forgot and lost a kingdom.
David forgot and reaped the dread consequences in his family.
Judas forgot and died tragically.
Peter forgot and cried the bitter tears of remorse.

It pays to remember!

Nothing but heartbreak, grief, and woe can come to those who choose to disregard the mercies
and the immutable counsels of God.
God has blessed America, but America has also forgotten God.
America has forgotten what made her strong and great.
America has forgotten God.

Americans, like the Romans of old, are addicted to pleasure.

We spend $83 million a year for leisure activities.
Another $35 billion will be spent on vacation travel within the United States.
Foreign travel adds an additional $5 billion.

Rome lost her soul into a merry-go-round of "wine, women, and song."
America is doing the same!
When will our nation learn that you cannot have morale without morality?
In America over 25 million sex magazines are sold each month.

100,000 young women are lured into prostitution each year.
Drug addiction and drug abuse cost our country from $10 to $17 billion annually, and also cost
our country thousands and thousands of deaths each year resulting from these deadly addictions.

100 students and staff are murdered each year in public schools.
70,000 teachers are injured from attacks by students.
Chicago school system spends $3 million annually to repair damage caused by vandals.
Washington D.C. spends $622,000 per year to repair broken windows.
School boards across the nation spend much more money on repairs than on textbooks.

One driver out of every four coming at you between 10 PM and 3 AM has been drinking.
One in eight has drunk enough to impair their driving ability.
Thousands are killed, actually slaughtered on our highways by intoxicated drivers.

When will we learn our lesson?
Men or nations cannot forget God without paying the consequences.

Computers have calculated that you, an average citizen in America, will live an average of 70 years.
You will invest those years in:

Twenty-four years sleeping.
Fourteen years working.
Six years eating.
Three years learning.
Four years talking.
Five years walking, riding.
Eight years amusing yourself.

Now, listen to this!
Assuming that you spend five minutes a day in prayer, and up to three hours a week in church,
at the end of 70 years, you would have spent only 20 months in prayer and praise.
On any given Sunday only 40 percent of church members in America attend church services.

Knowing that we have no guarantee of tomorrow, and that tragedy can strike
at any time in many different ways, how can we forget God?
With over one-half of the world hungry, multiplied millions living on the brink of starvation,
with crime crushing the life out of our cities, neighbors living and walking in terror by day
and sleeping in fear by night, wars always starting and seldom ending --how can we forget God?
Yet, we have forgotten God!

Patrick Henry once said: "I know of no way of judging the future, but by the past."
The Roman Empire had a history to which we, as Americans, can relate.
The world lay at her feet.
The wealth of the world flowed into Rome.
What the armies of her victims could not do, wealth and luxurious living did.
Rome rotted on the inside!

Even her pagan religious values lost their meaning.
The citizens of Rome lost their initiative, depending on the government for circuses and bread.
Taxes soared, corruption increased in public and private life, marriage decayed, divorce increased,
and homes were broken.
What had once been a mighty Empire became a hollow shell.
Rome fell easy prey to the barbarians from the North.
Every force which destroyed the Roman Empire is at work in our nation this very hour.

We need revival!
The only thing that can save us is a revival of genuine Christian religion.

Even more tragic -- could it be?
We, His children, the church have forgotten God!
After God has blessed us so -- have we also forgotten God?

Check these statistics:

57 percent of the nation belong to some church.
10 percent cannot be located.
20 percent never attend.
40 percent never give.
60 percent never attend a prayer meeting.
80 percent do not tithe.
90 percent have never been instrumental in leading a person to Christ.

Have we, His children, forgotten God?

Have we forgotten the scars?
Have we forgotten the sacred brow dripping crimson from under its thorny crown?
Have we forgotten the wounded side where a savage Roman spear plunged deep
into the side of our Lord and Saviour?
Have we forgotten the hands and feet pierced with the nails
and stretched and torn with the weight of the precious body of the suffering Saviour?

If our early love for Him is gone, then we have forgotten Him.
If our love for His precious Word is gone, then we have forgotten Him.
If we have grown content with the knowledge of eternal truth already acquired,
then we have forgotten Him.
If we are not hungry and diligent in the study of God's Word,
then we have forgotten Him.
If we do not feed daily upon God's Word, then we have forgotten God.
If we never even open the Word of God, then we have forgotten God.
If prayer is no longer a vital passion of our life, then we have forgotten God.
If we have no regular times of prayer, then we have forgotten God.
If there is a complete lack of prayer in our lives, then we have certainly forgotten God.

When the services of the church no longer claim our attendance or our interest,
then we have forgotten God.
When the singing of the hymns of praise no longer excite us,
then we have forgotten God.
When the hearing of God's Word proclaimed no longer delights us,
then we have forgotten God.
When attendance at God's house is abandoned altogether,
it is clear that God is forgotten.
When sports, recreation, and amusements become more important in our lives
than the Lord Jesus, then we have forgotten God.
When such events are more important than our spiritual progress,
then we have forgotten God.
When more time is devoted to play than to prayer,
then God has been forgotten.
When sins of the flesh can be indulged in without an uproar in your conscience,
then God has been forgotten.
When sensitivity over sin has vanished, then God has been forgotten.
When sins no longer stun the soul, then God has been forgotten.

Once we would have been sick at the sight of sin.
Once we would have had sleepless nights over sin.
But now there is no problem -- there is no remorse -- God has been forgotten!

When the acquisition of money and things become a dominant part of our thinking,
then God has been forgotten.
When the focus is on money, houses, cars, lands, stocks, and bonds,
then God has been forgotten.
When breaches of peace in the fellowship no longer disturb or concern us,
then God has been forgotten.
When we are no longer concerned about the unity of the church,
then God has been forgotten.
When there is no grief over broken fellowship, then God has been forgotten.
When the slightest excuse is sufficient to keep us from spiritual duty and opportunity,
then God has been forgotten.
When we are no longer concerned with our lack of spiritual power,
then God has been forgotten.
When murmuring and complaining take the place of praising and loving,
then God has been forgotten.
When thousands of special mercies from the hand of God are forgotten
in the face of one small affliction, then God has been forgotten.
When lying becomes an accepted way of life, then God has been forgotten.
When dishonesty is accepted as a business practice, then God has been forgotten.
When we are no longer concerned about the destiny of our loved ones and friends
who are without Christ, then God has been forgotten.

When any of these things are true -- God has been forgotten!

When injustice and human misery exist around us, and we do little or nothing
to relieve the suffering, then God has been forgotten.
When we can pass by on the other side and do nothing, then God has been forgotten.
When our tears are dried up to those who are hurting, then God has been forgotten.

Whenever our prayerlessness does not cause our tears to flow...
When our personal sins do not provoke us to tears...
When the decline of spiritual interest all around us does not force tears from our eyes...
When the lostness of our children -- parents -- sisters -- brothers --husbands -- wives
-- grandparents -- neighbors -- friends -- school friends -- companions on the job
-- cannot unleash the tears -- then God has been forgotten.

If any of these aspects apply to you, then to that extent, you have forgotten God!

How long will God tolerate our forgetfulness?
How long will it be until judgment begins at the house of God?
We need revival!
It is time to remember God!

Dr. George Truett told in a sermon how the Great Depression was behind,
and on March 18, 1937, people were prosperous in New London, Texas from an oil boom.
The streets were filled with new cars, and bank accounts were fat from royalties.
Unfortunately, the material prosperity seemed to have caused a decline of interest in spiritual causes.
The people of New London, Texas had no time for God.
They had forgotten God!

One Wednesday night -- only the janitor and the pastor appeared for the midweek prayer services.

On the very next day, a fateful Thursday, New Londoners went about their business as usual.
School children were busy in the new school building, which had been constructed from oil revenues.
The new school building was the pride of New London.

Suddenly, the new school blew apart in a thunderous explosion.
Children were blown out the windows upon the playground like leaves caught in a gigantic whirlwind.
It happened too quickly for even a warning.

One moment the citizens of New London were going about their routine work;
the next thing they knew, they were picking up their dead children from off the school ground.
Altogether, 294 children died from that tragic explosion.
That was horrible!
That was so tragic!
That brought grief to the entire city.

Twenty years after the blast, an elderly Baptist deacon told Dr Truett:
"I'll never forget that scene in the Baptist Church after the explosion.
The church was packed and jammed the next Wednesday night.
Parents were sobbing in repentance.
There were so many converted, the pastor couldn't keep count.
We had all forgotten God and begun worshiping the things which the oil royalties could buy.
But after the tragedy, in which almost every family in the town and in the surrounding area
lost a child, we woke up to see what was important."

Oh, may we wake up, and see what is really important!
We need revival!

"Coming now to Thee, O Christ my Lord
Trusting only in Thy precious Word,
Let my humble prayer to Thee be heard,
And send a great revival in my soul.

Send a great revival in my soul,
Send a great revival in my soul,
Let the Holy Spirit come and take control,
And send a great revival in my soul."

Sermon by Dr. Harold L. White