Voddie Baucham - This is Why We Need to Be Reminded

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We doubt because we don't believe what the Lord has promised.
Look at verses six through eight, save therefore to the
people of Israel, I am the Lord. I am Yahweh,
and I will bring you out. That This is framed
by I am the Lord on the beginning and the end.

(00:22):
So he's going back to remind them of who I am.
That I'm God. By the way, there's no other explanation
needed than I am God. Amen. That's kind of like
when your parents tell you something. You go, I why
do I have to do that? Because I told you so? Well,
what I have to do what you tell me, because
I'm your daddy. Well, uh uh, that's enough. That's enough.

(00:54):
I am the Lord. That's enough. He says it at
the beginning and the end. But in the middle again,
remember three times I am the Lord, and in the
middle of that seven promises another very important number in
the scriptures. Look at those promises, I will bring you

(01:20):
out from under the burden of the Egyptians. What's their worry?
You spoke to Pharaoh and our burden got heavier. I'm God,
I will bring you out from under the burden of
the Egyptians. Number two, I will deliver you from slavery
to them. Number three, I will redeem you with an

(01:40):
outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. Number four,
I will take you to be my people. Number five,
I will be your God, and you shall know that
I am the Lord, your God who has brought you
out from under the burden of the Egyptians. When I
do it, you'll know I did it. Number six, I

(02:03):
will bring you into the land that I swore to
give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And number seven, I
will give it to you for a possession. I'm not
just gonna bring you out. I'm going to bring you in.
I'm not just going to bring you out and bring
you in, but I'm going to bring you out, take
you as my own, be your God uniquely specifically, and

(02:28):
bring you into this land that I promised. And how
does he end it? I am Yahweh. Why do we doubt?
We doubt because we forget who God is, Because if
we've remembered who God was, there would be no room

(02:50):
for doubt. We doubt because we forget what God has done.
Because if we remembered what God has done, if we
remembered God's covenant, if we remembered God's redemption again, where
would there be room for doubt? And in thirdly, again

(03:15):
we do we forget what God has promised. We forget
that God has not done with us. We forget that
Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you, amen,
that there is more ahead. We forget that He's coming again,
the judge the living and the dead, and that he
will make all things right. We forget that. That's why

(03:39):
we doubt, because we forget that. But lest we be
flippant and they go, oh, yeah, that's right, Yeah, all
I have to do is just have those facts. Look
at what happens. Because they get those facts, and they
don't get those facts, they get those facts from God.
God says to Moses, I am and you're gonna know

(04:03):
me better than Abraham, Isaac and Jacob knew me. I'm
revealing myself and my character you character to you in
ways that they couldn't even comprehend. I'm God. You need
to know me as God and you won't doubt. Secondly,
you need to remember what I've done, Remember the covenant
that I made. I'm the God who made that covenant.
I'm the one who came and got you. You didn't
come and get me, Moses, you were keeping sheep on

(04:25):
the other side of the mountain. I came and got you.
I made that bush burn. I got your attention, you
didn't get mine. Thirdly, tell the people that this is
what I'm gonna do. And Moses comes down, armed with
the word of God and armed with the word of God.
The prophet of God speaks to the people of God

(04:49):
this powerful word, reminding them of who God is, what
he's done, and what he's promised. And the people of
God respond. Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel,
but they did not listen to Moses because of their
broken spirit and heart slavery. God spoke directly to Moses,

(05:16):
and Moses brought that word to the people. Because of
their broken spirit and because of their circumstances, they wouldn't
believe what Moses said. This heavy burden, this is real.

(05:39):
Your promise is not real right now, Moses, Pharaoh, he's real.
Your God is not real now, Moses, your God says
he's gonna do ABC and X y Z. Pharaoh did
what he was going to do. We got no strong man.

(06:02):
This is real. That's pie in the sky stuff this
is real. My pain is real, my heartache is real,
My circumstances are real, my frustration is real, my fear
is real. And right now it's more real to me
than who you say God is and what you say
God has done and what you say God has promised.

(06:23):
That's you and me. That's where the burbon meets the road.
That's the real Christian life. That's us. And because we
don't understand that this is the real Christian life, here's
what happens. We get to that place and we think

(06:43):
there's something wrong with us, there's something wrong with me.
Because if there wasn't something wrong with me, I wouldn't
respond this way. Listen, same thing's wrong with you, that
was wrong with them. You're falling and living in this
world is difficult. Information and rebuke that's not enough. Granted,

(07:12):
we need information, Granted we need rebuke, but that's not enough.
We need the presence and power of the Spirit of
God in our lives, and we need him to act mercifully.
And we also need to be reminded. Israel would have
to hear this same thing again and again and again

(07:35):
and again and again. Listen, Saints, don't think so much
of yourself that you get frustrated because you have to
be reminded. That's arrogance. What's the matter, fellow Christian? Oh,
I'm just down. Why are you so down, fellow Christian? Well,

(07:56):
because something happened in my life and I doubted again, really,
fellow Christian, because Christians doubt things. Yes, but I should
be more mature than that by now. I should be
at a place in my life where I stop. Right now,
are you saying, dear Christian, that you should be at
a place in your life where you don't need to

(08:17):
be reminded again and again and again. Don't say that. First,
let me read some things for you Romans fifteen fifteen.
But I'm on some points. I have written to you
very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace
given me by God. First Corinthians four seventeen. This is

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why I sent you, Timothy, my beloved and faithful child
in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ,
as I teach them everywhere in every church. One Corinthians
fifteen one. Now I would remind you, brothers of the
gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which
you stand. Second Grinthians ten to seven. Look at what

(09:03):
is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he
is Christ's, let him remind himself that just as he
is Christ's, so also are we second Peter one, twelve
and thirteen. Therefore I intend always to remind you of
these qualities. Second Peter three. No, let me finish twelve,

(09:27):
twelve and thirteen. Remind you of these qualities, though you
know them and are established in the truth that you have,
I think it right as long as I am in
this body, to stir you up by way of reminder
Second Peter three to one. This is now the second
letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both

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of them, I am stirring up your sincere mind by
way of reminder. And finally, Jude five, now I want
to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus,
who saved a people out of the land of Egypt,

(10:08):
afterward destroyed those who did not believe. Reminder, Reminder, Reminder.
Why do we need to sit under the ordinary means
of grace every week in church because we need to

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be reminded? Why do we need to be reminded of
the Gospel because we forget faith comes by hearing and
hearing by the Word of Christ. Why do we need
to read the word regularly, pray the word regularly, sing

(10:51):
the word regularly? Why do we need to come before
the Lord's table week in and week out. Because we
need to be reminded again and again and again. Because
the yoke of your oppression is a constant reminder, and
you need the Word of God as a constant reminder.

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Because the difficulties that you face every day are a reminder,
and so you need the Word of God as a reminder.
The hardness of life is a reminder, and so you
need the preaching of the Gospel as a reminder. The
disappointment of your sinfulness is a reminder, So you need

(11:33):
the majesty of Christ put forth before you again and
again and again as a reminder. Christianity is not a
class you take and pass. It's your life. It's your breath,

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your health, your strength, your everything. And you must be reminded.
I'm must be reminded because every time difficulty smacks you
or me in the face. Our natural tendency is not
to remember who God is, what he's done, and what
He's promised. Our natural tendency is to say this is

(12:16):
too much for me. I just can't believe right now.
This is why there's no such thing as a lone
ranger Christian. You can't do this on your own. You
weren't meant to do this on your own. You're not
capable of doing this on your own. You need someone

(12:38):
to remind you. You need to remind yourself, and you
need to remind somebody else. Amazing things happen when we
remind other people of things. This happens all the time.
One of the things, you know, as pastors we talk
about all the time. How you know you're sitting and
you're dealing with some situation, and you're helping so someone

(13:00):
with some situation, and you're looking at these things objectively,
and you're reminding these people of these things objectively, And
all of a sudden, in the middle of being the
objective voice reminding people of these things, you go, you know,
you're doing really good, which is sometimes while we're talking
to you, you're doing really good talking to them. That's awesome, man,

(13:21):
Where was all that stuff the other day when you
had your own difficulties and your own doubts. You know
what that means? It is a blessing to be part
of the body, to have people remind us again and

(13:43):
again and again. It is a blessing when we gather
as believers to be reminded again and again and again.
But it is also a blessing to remind your brothers
and sisters in Christ, because oftentimes you need to hear
those words fall out of your own mouth so that

(14:05):
you can remember why the wheels fell off? Why did
I say that thing I shouldn't have said? Here's why.
I wouldn't hold it onto this? Why did that do
that thing I shouldn't have done. Here's why, because I
wouldn't hold it onto this. Why did I act the

(14:26):
way I shouldn't have acted? Here's why because I wasn't
holding on to this. Who is God? What has He done?
What has he promised? My prayer for you, for me,

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for all of us, is that as we walk through
the difficulties of our lives, and our lives will be
fraught with difficulties, as we face each one of them,
we will ask ourselves, who is God? What has he done?

(15:09):
What has he promised? I'm struggling with something right now.
It's hurting me. What I need to do? You need
to ask yourself, who is God? What has he done?
What has he promised? I got some news that overwhelmed me?
How do I face it? You ask yourself, who is God?

(15:33):
What has he done? What has he promised? I've got
a task in front of me that I have no
idea how I can accomplish. What do I do? You
ask yourself who is God? What has he done? And
what has he promised? And what happens when that doesn't work?
Rense and repeat. So it's just real easy to get

(16:07):
caught up in this idea of this Christianity that makes
us invincible. It's really easy to get caught up in
this kind of Christianity that never has a bad day,
or at least never admits it. It's real easy to
get caught up in this christian how are you? I'm
blessed of, highly favored, and never answer the question with

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now I'm struggling today. The problem with getting caught up
in that myth of Christianity is that it leaves you
nowhere to go in your dark days. But to your darkness,

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you can't admit that you're struggling. You can't ask for
help when you're struggling, and you can't get out of
your struggle, because all you have is your struggle and
the idea that there's something wrong with you because you're
a Christian who's in the midst of a struggle. Let

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that go. Let that go, and rejoice in the fact
that God has given you this one day and seven,
that He has given you your Bible, that He has
given you your brothers and sisters in Christ, and so
much more. In order to remind you again and again

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and again and again, why because we need it. We
need it. We need to be reminded Christ died for sin,

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once for all, the just, for the unjust, in order
that He might bring us back to God. We need
to be reminded of that. We need to be reminded
that because we have come to Him in repentance and faith,
that we are part of the covenant people of God,
that we are saved, and that we are in the
process of being sanctified and we will one day be glorified.
We need to be reminded that Christ will, he who

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began a good work in you, is able and faithful
to see it through to completion. You need to be
reminded of that Christian. And if you're not a Christian.
You need to be reminded of that, because if you're
not a Christian, that means you're trusting in something other

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than the completed work of Christ. And you're failing, and
it's failing. And it's not enough for you to just fail.
You need to be reminded over and over and over
again why you're failing. Because Christ is your only hope.
Flee to him, cling to him, trust in him and

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nothing else, and don't leave here another week without embracing
and walking in that reality.