Have We Forgotten? | Ps. Nate Capshaw

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

Doing okay, doing well, doing good?

All right.

Yeah, a little energy here this morning.

Nice to nice to hear that.

Um if you are thankful to be in the house of the Lord, can I get an Amen?

If you have been blessed by this series, The Songs of the Summer, and we've been going through the book of Songs, can I get an Amen?

If you are ready to welcome back your lead pastors next week, can I get an Amen?

Yes, we are so thankful uh to have Pastor Keith and Pastor Megan join us next week.

Uh if it is your first time here this morning, I want to extend a special welcome to you.

My name's Nate.

I'm one of the pastors here.

So glad that you have joined us.

If you are joining us online, welcome.

So thankful that you're here uh this morning.

If I haven't had the chance to meet you, I'd love to do so uh after the service.

I'll be out in the courtyard.

We'd love to shake your hand or hear your story and see if there's anything that we can do uh to care for you.

If you are online uh and you are willing and able and you're in the Orlando area, we would love to have you here on a Sunday morning at either 9 or 10 30.

Uh can anybody uh recall the past seven messages in this series so far?

If I if I asked you to name them, could you do it?

Could anybody do it?

Anybody name the past seven?

I was gonna ask somebody to come up here and name the past seven messages, but I thought it would be fun.

Anyways, today we're concluding our songs of the summer series where we've been looking at the book of Psalms, this collection of poetry that speaks to us still uh today.

In the first week, we looked at uh the importance of prioritizing God's word and how we should cherish it and be thankful for it, and how God's word actually became flesh for us and the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

Uh, the second week we we looked at uh what it means to constantly celebrate God's goodness and how good he is to us and how we should continually recognize that goodness.

Uh after that, we heard uh from our brother Vinny on uh cherishing and loving God's house and prioritizing God's house, having saudaji for God's house.

We also uh remembered what it means to care and love and prioritize our next generation, to serve our next generation.

We also looked at what it means to choose either the righteous path or the wicked path and what those two involved, the consequences of both.

We then looked at what it means to be unoffendable in a world of offense.

And finally, last week we heard incredibly from Pastor Petey as he uh masterfully broke down and and kind of demystified this idea of repentance.

And I don't know about you, but that was uh a great word for me to hear and super encouraging.

And if you've missed any of this, I would encourage you to go back to YouTube or uh to the podcast and check it out because I believe that it will be a blessing for you.

Today, like I said, we're concluding our series.

We're gonna be looking at Psalm number 106, Psalm 106.

And I uh emphasize number because I was gently uh corrected by my father that the Psalms are not in chapters, son, they are in numbers.

So thankful for my dad uh and his years of ministry.

Uh, and it just goes to show that pastors have a lot to learn too.

We are just like everybody else.

Psalm number 106.

Hope you have your Bible with you this morning.

Uh if not, we have one for you on the way out.

We'd love to gift to you, or maybe you have your Bible app with you.

We're gonna be looking at verse number six of Psalm 106.

Like our ancestors, we have sinned.

We have done wrong, we have acted wickedly.

We're off to a great start.

Our ancestors in Egypt were not impressed by the Lord's miraculous deeds.

They soon forgot his many acts of kindness to them.

Instead, they rebelled against him at the Red Sea.

Even so, he saved them to defend the honor of his name and to demonstrate his mighty power.

He commanded the Red Sea to dry up, he led Israel across the sea as if it were a desert, so he rescued them from their enemies and redeemed them from their foes.

Then the water returned and covered their enemies, but not one of them survived.

Then his people believed his promises, and then they sang his praise.

Yet how quickly they forgot what he had done.

They wouldn't wait for his counsel.

In the wilderness their desires ran wild, testing God's patience in that dry wasteland.

This morning, the title of our message is Have We Forgotten?

Have we forgotten?

Would you bow your heads in prayer with me?

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the moments that we share, God.

God, we thank you for your goodness.

God, we thank you for the ability to gather in your house.

We thank you for your word, Lord.

God, I ask that you would speak this morning, that we would hear your words, that uh we would see you, and uh that we would walk out of here forever change.

It's in Jesus' name we pray, and everybody said, Amen.

Stories are unique, aren't they?

Stories are a unique part of the human experience.

No other species really has the ability to remember like we do because of stories.

Now, the little psychology and science that I do know is there are species that other animals that are able to remember, but mainly their remembrance is uh based off of experience, right?

Uh however, humans have this unique ability to tell a story or to read a story and to place themselves within it, even if we didn't experience it.

Stories are unique.

Psalm 106 is a storytelling psalm.

Uh we have looked at songs of ascent, we have looked at some wisdom songs throughout this series, but Psalm 106 is one of the few storytelling psalms.

It's most likely written during the time of Babylonian captivity of Israel.

So if you're unfamiliar, Israel fell to the Babylonian Empire in the 500s BC.

Uh particularly Jerusalem was ransacked and Israel was taken captive.

And so what the writer of this psalm is doing is he's reflecting back on an experience that his forefathers had coming out of Egypt.

So he's reflecting back in order to relate to what's happening to that day.

Literature, particularly Jewish literature, puts us in the story.

It puts the people of God in the story.

Of Jewish literature, Bernard Anderson writes this: the story of the formation of Israel was told and retold.

The deliverance from Egypt, the crossing of the Reed Sea, the entrance into Canaan.

The story was not rehearsed as something back there in the past.

Rather, the story had a meaning for persons here and now.

It was a drama in which the present generation was involved.

Stories are unique to us.

Our story today begins with Israel at the sea.

It begins with the children of Israel coming out of bondage, years and years of bondage to Egypt.

God has freed them, and they are at the bank of the sea.

And what's happening is Egypt has changed their minds.

Why in the world have we let all these slaves go?

Let's go hunt them down.

And so Israel standing at the sea, Egypt's army rushing in behind them.

And you can imagine, if you are in this position, you're probably freaking out.

You're probably wondering why in the world would God bring me out of a place in order to put me at a place, an insurmountable obstacle.

But Israel forgot.

Israel forgot that what happened in Egypt was God showed his miraculous deeds.

God showed signs and wonders in order to release them in the first place and bring them to where they were.

Israel had already forgotten.

God delivers them and brings them into the wilderness, and they find themselves at the foot of a mountain, and on this mountain is Moses, and he goes up to hear from the Lord, to hear God's instructions and bring it down to the people.

And once they start to wonder why he hasn't come down so quickly, they lose patience.

They lose hope that he's ever going to return, even, and so they ask Aaron, who's another leader, to build us an idol.

And then so we can have something to worship and something to thank for bringing us out of Egypt.

And so Aaron does as they ask, and he instructs the people to melt or bring their gold so that he can melt it and he forms it into a golden calf, and the people trade their worship and thankfulness to God for an inanimate object.

Israel had forgotten.

We read on in Psalm 106, and Israel is at the doorstep of their promise.

They have finally made it through this wilderness, and they're on the brink of entering the land that God had promised them.

And so naturally they send some guys ahead to kind of check things out.

And the spies return and they they tell the people yeah, there's literal giants in the land, and I think that we're probably going to be destroyed.

But there are a couple of spies who remain hopeful and they try to convince the people listen, God has brought us through so much already.

Why wouldn't He do it now?

However, the people decide to go with a majority of the vote, and they do not enter that promised land.

Israel had already forgotten.

We continue reading on in Psalm 106, and Israel finally gets to where they're supposed to be.

Okay, they made it.

And God asked them to get rid of everything from the past, get rid of the Canaanite way, get rid of the old ways.

Don't let it linger around.

And so Israel kind of obeys.

And they leave a few remnants, a few pieces of history, a few of the people there, and they begin to be corrupted.

They begin to be polluted by the ways of old.

Israel had already forgotten.

We too find ourselves within the pages of Scripture, don't we?

We too can place ourselves within this story.

Have you ever been at the mouth of a sea?

Have you ever been at a place that you thought God brought you out of only to look and see that it was an insurmountable obstacle in front of you?

I remember I was praying for God to bring me out of a job situation, and some of you guys are in here singing, hallelujah, bring me out of this job.

I asked God, I want to be brought out of this, and I know that you have something else for me.

And I specifically was praying for a certain thing.

And God eventually answered my prayer.

And God brought me out of that situation, and I landed where I believe He was asking me to be.

Well, a few weeks go by and everything's good, but then things start to kind of take a turn for the worse, and all hell seems to break loose.

I had forgotten God's goodness before.

Have you ever been at the foot of a mountain waiting for God to speak, waiting for God to act on your behalf?

And instead you turn to an inanimate object for your attention.

You give it your worship, you give it your time.

Have you ever been at the doorstep of a promise, a promise you know God has given you?

And instead of walking through there with faith, you look at it with doubt.

Have you ever been delivered by something, by God, and yet you let some of the old ways stick around and you begin to mingle with some of the past and it ends up corrupting you and polluting you?

May I suggest this morning that our sin is not merely a lack of discipline, but rather a loss of memory.

May I suggest that our lack of motivation to serve our neighbor is because we have forgotten.

May I suggest to you that our hesitancy to be generous is because we have forgotten that God has provided in the first place.

Our failures and our faults are an inability to remember.

Now, I'm not talking about an inadvertent forgetfulness, okay?

I'm talking about a deliberate choice to look at the sea, to look at an inanimate object, the idol, and to look at the doubt instead of to look at God.

Instead of to remember God.

If you're anything like me, chances are you have.

Right?

Chances are at one point or another, or maybe even this morning, you have forgotten.

I'll uh never forget.

Um my mom and her siblings would tell this story of my grandfather, who was a lifelong pastor, a minister to many.

He was a chaplain within his community, well loved and respected.

One of those guys that never met a stranger.

You know what I'm talking about, you have a conversation.

Who is that?

Oh, I just met them.

Um, but he was one of those men, and they would tell this story uh several times whenever they would begin to go out for the weekend to hang out with friends.

They would say goodbye to my grandfather, and before the door could shut behind them, they would always hear this: remember whose son you are.

Remember whose daughter you are.

Remember whose child you are.

My grandfather was communicating was you are the son or daughter of a pastor.

I have raised you a certain way.

Remember that.

Remember what I have done for you.

And I think there was a double meaning to what he was saying.

I would like to think that he was also saying, remember, you are a child of the most high God.

Remember.

Have we forgotten who we are?

Better yet, have we forgotten who we serve?

I'm here to tell you this morning, we serve the Alpha and Omega.

We serve the author and finisher, we serve the lion and the lamb.

We serve the healer, redeemer, shepherd, friend, provider, the all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful.

We serve the light of the world and the bread of life.

We serve the patient, persistent, and powerful God.

We serve the righteous, sovereign, just, merciful, and forgiving Lord.

That's who we serve.

Have you forgotten?

The unbelievable news.

The incredible news.

The reason we gather here this morning to worship is because God has remembered.

God has remembered.

Psalm 106 is not about Israel's failures, it's about God's faithfulness.

It's about God's faithfulness.

Psalm 106, look in verse 43.

Again and again he rescued them, but they chose to rebel against him, and they were finally destroyed by their sin.

Even so, some of the greatest words in our Bible, even so, he pitied them in their distress and listened to their cries.

He remembered his covenant with them and relented because of his unfailing love.

Why?

For his name.

Why?

For his glory, for his sake.

God remembered the oath that he swore to Abraham that he would bring a nation through his line.

God remembered what he promised to Moses, that he would bring the people out of Israel and take them to a promised land.

God remembered what he prophesied about David, that a king would come through his lineage, and not just any king, the king of kings, the king that comes to take away the sins of the world.

God has remembered.

My friends, if you have any doubt about whether or not God has remembered to you, look no further than the incarnation of Jesus.

Look no further than the Son of God.

When Abraham tried to expedite the promise by having a child with someone other than his wife, Jesus waited patiently for his time.

When Moses disobeyed God and got angry with the people and lost his right to enter the promised land, Jesus was obedient to God the Father unto death.

When David gave into temptation and committed adultery and murder, Jesus withstood the temptation and was counted blameless.

God doesn't remember his promises for Abraham's sake.

God doesn't remember his promises because of Moses.

God doesn't remember his promises because of David, and he certainly doesn't remember it because of my merit or yours.

God remembers his promises because he is worth remembering.

I go back on my word.

I fall short, but not him.

And if the news couldn't get any better, listen to Jeremiah 31.

But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days, says the Lord.

I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts.

I will be their God, and they will be my people.

And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, You should know the Lord.

For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already, and I will forgive their wickedness and will never again remember their sins.

If you are a son or daughter of God, and you have accepted the free gift of salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God remembers your sins no more.

I don't know about you, but I got some sins that I'm glad God remembers no more.

And that's news worth remembering.

That's news worth dedicating your life to studying Scripture like we talked about in week one.

That's news worth dedicating your life to remembering God's goodness like we spoke about in week two.

That's news worth dedicating your life to loving and cherishing the gathering of believers in this house.

That's news worth choosing the righteous path over the wicked path.

That's news worth serving our next generation.

That is news worth being unoffendable.

That is news worth repentance.

That's news worth remembering.

It's news worth living for, and it's news worth dying for.

Have you forgotten?

God has remembered.

Psalm 32.

Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight.

Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty.

If you have accepted the free gift of salvation made possible by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, you are pronounced innocent before God.

You are cleared of guilt.

Look around at the world.

Look around at society.

It seems like we're all suffering identity crisis.

It seems like we have forgotten who we are.

As believers, we don't need to go off and find ourselves.

We need to remember who we are in Christ.

We need to remember that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.

The old life is gone and a new life has begun.

You may forget this sermon as soon as the ex Benedict hits your mouth today, but remember this.

God has remembered.

God has remembered.

He's remembered his promise that everyone can know him.

He's remembered his promise that he will remember our sins no more.

Depression and the remembrance of God cannot coexist.

Perpetual sin and the remembrance of God cannot coexist.

Complacency and the remembrance of what God has done and who he is cannot coexist.

And I know that may sound like an oversimplification, but I believe that the simple gospel can solve complex problems.

Have we forgotten?

Maybe so.

But the good news is God has remembered.

Will you bow your heads in prayer with me?

Heavenly Father, we're humbled by your goodness and your grace.

We thank you so much that you have chosen to remember our sins no more.

I just want to take a moment if anyone in this room needs to repent, needs to know Jesus.

You can't forget something, I guess, that you don't already know.

And this morning, I want to give you the opportunity to respond.

If you want to know Jesus, if you want God to remember your sins no more, will you just slip up a hand so I can pray for you right now in this moment?

Love to pray for you.

Anybody online, amen.

God, you know, you know us all, you know our stories, you know, you know our faults, and yet you choose to forget them, God.

Lord, we remember your goodness, we remember your kindness.

Most of all, we remember who you are.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Thanks again for listening.

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