Remember What You Were | Deuteronomy 24:14-22

Opening Remarks: Glad you’re back. Determine to be here each night.

Bro Stussey…forgot and sang the ladies part

Deut. 24:14-22 – This is a chapter about remembrance. There are some things you shouldn’t forget:

Change your oil

Pay your electricity bill

You should count your kids before you leave somewhere, unless you’re trying to get rid of that one on purpose

Men’s, your anniversary or wife’s birthday. What’s interesting about that is the thing you don’t remember is likely to become something your wife never forgets.

God, through Moses, encourages Israel to never forget something. READ

Friends, may we never forget where we came from. Where would you be without God? Tonight I want to preach on The importance of remembering what you were. PRAY

Introduction: Have you ever forgotten something really important? I read a story about a British man who drove off and left his wife and went 17 miles before realizing she wasn’t with him.

The story, published in a British newspaper, began with the following sentence: "Heartfelt commiseration to Dorothy Naylor of Plymouth, whose recent daytrip to Bridgewater was spoiled when her husband, Oliver, left her on the forecourt of a garage … and drove 17 miles before noticing his wife was not in the car."

"I couldn't believe he'd gone without me," Mrs. Naylor told the Western Morning News. "I usually sit in the back because I can move around more, but normally we talk to one another."

The couple, both in their 70s, had pulled into a garage to change a tire. Mr. Naylor drove off and didn't notice his wife's absence until he had arrived in Bridgewater. After stopping in town, he asked his wife, "Where do you want to get out?" When she didn't answer, he turned around and discovered that he had left her behind. The paper added that the couple had been married for 40 years.[1]

I read recently that the average adult loses 9 items per day, which I can understand with keys, or wallets, or reading glasses, or our phones. But to drive off and leave your wife?

Some things you should never forget about. I read about a Norwegian boat owner who had a boat worth over $100,000 that he was going to sell, but he got busy and forgot about it. For over two years it floated in a Swedish harbor. All because he forgot.

How can you forget a boat worth 100k? Well, here’s a better question: How can a soul that’s been changed by God’s grace forget what they used to be?

God often had the children of Israel build a memorial at an important battle site or a landmark event so they’d remember it. You find example after example of NT exhortations to remember.

A major theme Moses was trying to emphasize in Deuteronomy as they prepared to take the Promised Land was this: Remember. As you remember what you were, it will impact how you treat others.

I. This Passage is Written to Masters, Judges and The Rich

*This message was for the people of means.

A. A command to Masters (Employer/employee)

1. Vs. 14 – Don’t oppress them by overloading them with work or being overbearing. Take care of them.

2. Vs. 15 – Be faithful and punctual in paying them their wages. The typical arrangement in this culture was payment at the end of a day’s work. If a person works by day-wages he’s probably living hand to mouth and needs paid today if his family is going to eat tonight.

3. “He setteth his heart on it” means that wage is extremely important to him. He’s depending on it to help his family survive. If you oppress him, 1) He will be sorely disappointed, and 2) You’ll will be guilty of wrongdoing.

B. A command to Judges.

1. Vs. 16 – This verse teaches personal responsibility. Parents don’t pay for children’s crimes, and vice versa.

2. Vs. 17 – In legal cases against others, it was up to the judges to protect those who may be innocent from suffering simply because they don’t have money to defend themselves. If a person comes in that doesn’t have money or friends to be witnesses in a case against someone with resources, it was the responsibility of the judge to make sure everyone was on equal footing. The judge was to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. The final instruction comes in vs. 19.

C. A command to the wealthy.

1. Vs. 19 – Be kind and charitable to the poor by following the laws of Gleaning according to Leviticus 19 (as well as others).

2. These laws were installed to give foreigners, widows, and orphans an opportunity to gather food since they didn’t have means or money. Certain crops and produce would be unripe or missed during the first harvest, and God commanded Israel to leave it for the less fortunate.

We could spend much more time on each of these, but all of these commandments to Israel present God’s heart toward those with less.

II. There Are Two Categories of People in This Passage:

A. The “Haves” and the “Have-Nots”.

1. Masters, judges and the rich are the “haves.”

2. The servants, orphans, widows and the poor are the “have-nots.”

3. They would have been the forgotten segment of society.

B. God is helping the “haves” know what their attitude should be toward the “have-nots.”

1. God has always had a special place in His heart for the weak and underprivileged.

a. He views the poor with compassion. Every orphan matters to God. Every widow has value.

b. Consider the fact that God sent His own Son to earth “as a stranger.” No place to be born. No dwelling place during His ministry. No place of His own to even be buried.

c. God loves the stranger. God cares for down and out.

d. James 1:27, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted.”

2. What a wonderful God of mercy we have! And His message through Moses is that God’s people ought to have His heart toward the have-nots.

3. And He gives them a motivation for the mindset.

C. Look at vs. 18 and 22

1. Vs. 18 – “But thou shalt remember…”

2. Vs. 22 – “And thou shalt remember…”

D. He’s saying, “Remember that you were a slave in Egypt.”

1. “As a slave you were a debtor. As a slave you were poor.”

2. “You lived hand to mouth. As a slave youhad no one to stand up for you.”

3. “As a slave you wondered where yournext meal would come from.”

4. What God is saying is, “I know you’re a Have now, but you used to be a Have Not. So have mercy on them.”

E. He gave this message to Israel many times in the OT.

1. Exodus 22:21 “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

2. That theme is repeated over and over: “You were strangers in Egypt. You were bondmen. You were slaves. Remember!”

F. And it’s no different for us. We may be Have’s, but we used to be Have-Not’s.

1. I don’t mean wealth, although, as Americans we are Have’s financially. But even more than wealth, as recipients of God’s grace through salvation in Jesus Christ, we are Have’s.

2. God loves us. He has blessed us. We have more eternal riches than we can imagine through Jesus Christ.

3. Make no mistake: God loves the Have-Not’s. And Israel’s treatment of them mattered to God.

III. God wanted Israel to remember this truth: if not for the grace of God, there go I.

A. It’s good for us to stop and remember where we came from and where we could be.

1. We were miserable in sin. Wewere in bondage. We had no hope.

2. But something took us from Have-Not’s to Have’s. What was it?

3. Vs. 18, “…the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence.” Just like Israel, our only hope of escaping was redemption.

4. We’re all benefactors of someone else, a Redeemer, stepping in and dying on a cross to make us “haves.” We didn’t earn it. We didn’t deserve it. We could never do anything to repay it.

5. I can’t help but think of that Gospel song, “Without Him, we would be dying. Without Him, we’d be enslaved. Without Him, life would be worthless, but with Jesus, thank God we are saved!”

8. 1 Corinthians 6:9–11 “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

B. So imagine what it does to God when Have’s forget what they were and neglect the Have-Not’s all around them.

1. Christ was hard on the church of Laodicea. He says in Rev. 3:17, 19, “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing: and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked…As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten…”

2. The attitude of forgetting what we used to be is grieving to the Lord. He knows what we once were.

3. Here’s the problem: the longer removed we are from that old life, the less we remember it.

a. The longer we’re saved, the less we remember about not being saved.

b. The more “Christian” we are, the easier it is to remember how miserable life was without Jesus.

c. We get comfortable. We start going through the motions. We lose sight of what we used to be.

d. That’s what happened to Israel. They got comfortable. And they forgot.

C. So maybe we need to take a spiritual look around and remember.

1. Instead of looking at the down and out as a nuisance, recognize that could be you.

2. Instead of avoiding eye contact with the lost, show them some compassion.

3. Instead of letting other bear the burden of giving to missions, get involved and give because you remember.

4. Without the grace of God, we’d still be Have-Not’s.

IV. Folks, We Must Remember

A. #1 – Remembering helps us imagine what our life would look like without God.

1. Where would you be without God’s love? Just imagine.

2. Alcoholic? Streets? In prison? Dead? Atheist?

3. I know it’s different if you were saved young or saved as an adult. Those pasts can look different.

4. But don’t forget that Jesus said about the debtors when one owed 500 and the other owed 50 in Luke 7:42, “And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both.”

5. One debtor owed 500 pence and the other 50. It didn’t matter. Neither could pay their debt.

6. Grew up on the streets, nothing to pay. Grew up in church, nothing to pay. Grew up in a false religion? NTP

7. It took the same love, the same cross, the same blood, the same grace and the same faith. And we all get the same eternal life.

8. Remembering helps us imagine where we’d be without Jesus.

B. #2 – Remembering helps us be what we ought to be.

1. God wanted remembrance not just to make them reflective. He wanted remembrance to make them active.

2. He wanted it to change the treatment of the Have-Nots. To be mindful of the servants, to be generous to the poor, and to take care of the fatherless and widows.

3. But what does it mean for us?

a. Well, our application now is primarily spiritual. You may not be able to feed the poor and needy, but you do have the bread of life. And almost everyone you see needs it.

b. Remembering helps you not view Outreach as a chore or interruption to your schedule. Why? Because you used to be a Have-Not and someone reached you.

c. Remembering makes giving seem like a privilege. Why? Because someone gave so you could hear.

d. You’re around Have-Not’s every day. You remembering could change their lives. It could change the trajectory of their family. Trends of their family. It just takes remembering.

e. Remembering helps us be what we ought to be. It makes us more compassionate.

V. Unfortunately, we often view Have-Not’s with a “Glad I’m not you”mentality.

A. Illustration: Africa…Only the missionary has a car…Very poor, rough living conditions, kept thinking “I’m glad that’s not me.” But in all honesty, spiritually, that used to be me…It could still be me. Spiritually, it used to be me.

1. Here’s what we do: Someone comes into church and their life is a wreck, “Glad I’m not you.”

2. Someone has an addiction and in our condescending brains we think, “Glad I’m not you.”

3. The lost person on the street, “Glad I’m not you.”

4. The neighbor who mows instead of going to church on Sunday morning, “Glad I’m not you.”

5. A lost soul in a third world country, “Glad I’m not you.”

B. It’s time to make a transition from “Glad I’m not you” to “I could be you.”

1. Instead of creating distance, try to walk in their shoes.

2. And before you think that sounds ridiculous, that’s what Jesus did for us. He literally came and walked in our shoes. Surrounded Himself with Have-Nots. Then died for them.

3. When God saw us Have-Not’s, He didn’t cross the street to walk down the other side, He put His Son in our shoes.

4. He didn’t say, “Glad I’m not you.” Jesus said, “I’ll become you so I can die for you.”

5. Remembrance will put us in the shoes of the Have-Not’s, which I believe will help wake us up to what our literal purpose is. To reach Have-Not’s.

6. Through missions. Giving. Telling. Having conversations about Jesus with people we meet.

VI. Harriett Tubman

A. Was a key conductor in the underground railroad.

1. Why do you suppose she was so passionate about seeing slaves set free?

2. Nothing else to do? Needed a hobby? Fame & notoriety?

3. Harriett Tubman said, “Now I’ve been free, I know what a dreadful condition slavery is. I have seen hundreds of escaped slaves, but I never saw one who was willing to go back and be one.”

4. Harriett Tubman was passionate about helping set slaves free because she remembered what it was like to be one.

B. Our compassion for the lost is directly connected to our remembrance of the bondage.

1. If you’ve lost your zeal for the lost, it could be that you’ve forgotten. It’s time to Remember.

2. If you haven’t had a Gospel conversation in a while, it’s time to remember.

3. If you haven’t been giving to Faith Promise Missions, it’s time to remember.

4. If you haven’t been praying for missionaries and for the souls on foreign, it’s time to remember.

5. Imagine your life without God. And let it help you be what you ought to be.

6. Bro Means - Remembering what he used to be will help him be the best missionary to Checkia Atheist, educated, addictions ministry

7. God can use what you were to reach the people around you. As long as you remember.

8. I look around and see a bunch of Have’s. And we can live in our bubble. But don’t forget this, “You used to be a Have-Not. So have some compassion on them. Because you could be them. You used to be them.”

8. It’s time to remember.

[1]https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2011/july/7071811.html