Crowding Out God
The sermon warns against the affront of forgetfulness and neglect of God, urging listeners to take heed to themselves and keep their souls diligently.
John Henry Jowett emphasizes the danger of forgetting the Lord God, highlighting how easily we can neglect Him and His benefits, ultimately leading to a state of spiritual wilderness and sin. He urges believers to 'take heed' and be vigilant in steering their spiritual lives, keeping their focus on God and His guidance to avoid drifting away carelessly. Jowett stresses the importance of diligently guarding one's soul, comparing it to tending a garden where neglect allows weeds of worldliness to choke out the flowers of holy desire and devotion.
Text
"_Lest thou forget._"
--DEUTERONOMY iv. 5-13.
That is surely the worst affront we can put upon anybody. We may oppose a
man and hinder him in his work, or we may directly injure him, or we may
ignore him, and treat him as nothing. Or we may forget him! Opposition,
injury, contempt, neglect, forgetfulness! Surely this is a descending
scale, and the last is the worst. And yet we can forget the Lord God. We
can forget all His benefits. We can easily put Him out of mind. We can
live as though He were dead. "My children have forgotten Me."
What shall we do to escape this great disaster? "_Take heed to thyself!_"
To take heed is to be at the helm and not asleep in the cabin. It is to
steer and not to drift. It is to keep our eyes on the compass and our
hands on the wheel. It is to know where we are going. We never
deliberately forget our Lord; we carelessly drift into it. "Take heed."
"_And keep thy soul diligently._" Gardens run to seed, and ill weeds grow
apace. The fair things are crowded out, and the weed reigns everywhere. It
is ever so with my soul. If I neglect it, the flowers of holy desire and
devotion will be choked by weeds of worldliness. God will be crowded out,
and the garden of the soul will become a wilderness of neglect and sin.
Sermon Outline
- The Affront of Forgetfulness
- The worst affront we can put upon God is to forget Him
- Opposition, injury, contempt, neglect, and forgetfulness are a descending scale
Key Quotes
“My children have forgotten Me.” — John Henry Jowett
“Take heed to thyself!” — John Henry Jowett
“And keep thy soul diligently.” — John Henry Jowett
Application Points
- We must be intentional in taking heed to ourselves and our souls to avoid forgetfulness of God.
- Neglecting our souls can lead to a wilderness of neglect and sin.
- We must prioritize cultivating holy desire and devotion in our lives.