Sermon

“I Remember, but God forgets ”

Seventh Sunday after Epiphany

St. Michael Lutheran Church

Deacon Noulang Yang, JD

2- 19-06

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Amen

Text: Isaiah 43:18-25 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise. Yet you have not called upon me, O Jacob, you have not wearied yourselves for me, O Israel. You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings, nor honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with grain offerings nor wearied you with demands for incense. You have not bought any fragrant calamus for me, or lavished on me the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your offenses. “ I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. ” This is the Word of the Lord.

In Christ Jesus, my dear Christian friends;

Illustration

When I was the manager for a Super Market in North Carolina. There was this young man who came to apply for a bagger position. He stated on his application that he was fired from his previous job for theft. After interviewing this young man, I have decided to hire him. First, he was honest about the previous firing. He didn’t lie or tried to cover his mistake on his application. He was truthful about his past and have decided to move on with his life. He didn’t mind letting his new employer know or try to cover up of his past experience. He wasn’t dwelling on the old thing by thinking that he will not be able to get a job anywhere. He came and apply for the position and because of his honesty he was hired. He became one of the best bagger we have in that store.

I. The question most of us have is “Can you wipe out the former things?” How can you forget failures and personal stains in your life record? The past is something that sticks to us like a glue. It just doesn’t seem to go away. People need to forget the times they have fallen flat on their faces, and so often they have the word “Loser” engraved in their hearts which made it hard for them to forget. We tend to fail miserably on the things that happen in our lives. We, sometimes, instead of forget the past mistakes, we took those past mistakes into our lives, our marriage, our children, and our neighbor.

Instead of moving forward we kept on dwelling the past. Our lives slowly overcome us then our heart slowly dried up and began to deteriorate and we sink into the thing that we fear the most. Sin.

The prophet Isaiah stated “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” Isaiah was writing to the Israelites people in exile. We can only try to imagine the difficulty of their life experience. The Israelites had known the glory days during the reign of David and Solomon. But now the nation has not only declined but has been conquered. Jerusalem has been devastated and the Temple destroyed. The people had been humiliated and taken into captivity. Their memories seem to be all painful. They were haunted by the memories of their sins. The prophet had made it clear to them that their exile was a direct result of turning their back on the one true God. Now they had to admit that they deserved the punishment they were receiving.

Isaiah tries to convince them that God wants to do a new thing among them. God wants to restore them to their country. But the people don’t believe the good news and because their memories are so filled with bad news. For decade, they have lived in captivity away from their homeland, separated from their customs rituals and away from the place that gave them their identity. They felt like they can’t go home again. To serve the one true God because of their infidelities which had brought them to this land.

II. Today, people are living in a world that is filled with full of deceitfulness, temptation, greed and lust. We are being pull in a different direction and forgot about what the scripture has encouraged us not to remember the old things. Even when we remember then, Isaiah’s word encourage us to forget the past so we could made right with God. We are to come to repentance of our sin and remember God’s grace and mercy that He will forgive our sins. We are made new in Christ Jesus and look forward to renew our way of life.

All kind of relationships, careers, businesses, even churches fall into the trap of thinking that we are too small and that we can’t accomplish our tasks or goals in the past so why are we even bother to set goal or committee to carry out those tasks? Most of us will say “I can’t do it. We can’t possibly accomplished that!.” This remind me of a story of Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller.

Annie Sullivan, a blind orphan who had been abandoned with her younger brother in a state institution for the insane, was left there to vegetate. She was stumbling around in a filthy place and listening to people dying. With rats for pets because she had no toys, and with few children to talk to once her brother died, she occupied her hours repeating what the nurses said and did. When night came and the attendants left, Annie practiced what she had learned. And with a start, she began to build the skills that was eventually got her noticed and opened her way to be transfer to a school for the deaf. There, she worked to gain the knowledge of teaching others people like herself. She was finally given the chance to go south and take charge of helping Helen Keller.

Helen Keller was not only blind but also deaf and unable to speak. Her parents and the physicians who attended her thought that, at best, the girl from the deaf school could serve as a companion for the youngster. When Annie Sullivan stated that she had come to teach Helen to communicated, Captain Keller’s shocked response was, “That’s like the blind leading the blind.” “Exactly, Miss Sullivan said, and just you watch how far the two of us can go together!”

The distance they went became legendary! From a frenzied child groping through life because of the personal prison in which her spirit was locked, with the aid of Miss Annie, Helen Keller became a poet, lecturer, humanitarian and inspirer of generations. A person was once considered an “animal” became the world figure that Kings and President around the world lined up to hear and touch. Uncountable numbers of people, the handicapped and what we call ordinary people were drawn to her and inspired to step out on their own. All because of what the faith, and conviction and effort of a teacher and her pupil accomplished.

Like the story of Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller, Inspiration helps us tap the hidden reservation that God had given the potential in us all. It is fear that chokes off this potential; fear is not necessary a sins. Forget the past, the prophet Isaiah stated. Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” We need to forge ahead and let go of the past.

III. In the last text God says, But you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your offenses. “ I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. ” If God does not remember our sins, then we should forget them too. After we have taken our sins, our most embarrassing moments, our failures and laid them at the foot of the cross, we need to let go of them. We need to not remember then any longer.

While our failures lead us to destruction, Christ rescue us by dying on the cross and rising victorious over death and sin. Because of his death our sins are forgiven. The whole penalty of death had paid in full for our bondage and punishment of sins. Christ continually offers us his long lasting grace. Peter wrote: 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” If we committed a sin, God is patient with us. He doesn’t strike us dead, but instead He want us to come to repentance. He want us to forget the past. He is just, love, and mercy to all of us.

The Apostle Paul, he persecuted the Christians before he was converted to Christian at the road to Damascus. If Paul cannot forget his past, he would not be able to continue God’s work. He would felt miserable and will not be able to continue with the ministries of planting churches throughout Europe. If we continue to hang on to the former things, we will never be able to move forward with our lives. We may remember but God forgets them when we come to repentance of our sins. Paul wrote: 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” Jesus said: Matthew 9:16-17 “No one sews a path of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Don’t put old with thing with new thing. Don’t look back. Look forward.

What is it that you need to let go in order to experience God’s newness in your life? What memories are there in your mind that need to be forgotten so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord? The Apostle Peter said in Acts 3:19 “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” Let us refresh by repenting our old ways and turn to God.

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? But you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your offenses. “ I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. ” Latch onto the promises of God through Isaiah. Cling to them. Hold on to the hand of Jesus for dear life and you will find fulfillment and a new path will have a way of opening up for you in bringing the future into view to your life in Christ. Take God’s promise. Trust in it. Stand firm in it. Know it in every part of your being.

Christ, who has redeemed us and promised us continual forgiveness. He will guide us in his grace and will guard us from failure. By his Word and Spirit, he directs us, teaches us, and strengthens us. May God grant repentant heart unto each of you, that you may confess your failures, your sins in which you remembered. May you also joyfully receive God’s gracious forgiveness and partake in the victory that Christ has won by forgiving each of your sins on the cross. Even though, you remember, God forgets. Amen