Isaiah 17:10-12 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips: In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow. Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!

The first words of warning are key here. Forgotten is not forsaken. You can forget without going into outright rebellion. This is a clear warning about what you plant in your forgetfulness. It might not be much more than a thought planted in your mind. In doing so, did you not know that seed would grow, take root and produce grief and sorrow?

James 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Can you see it? Conception, growth, fruit, and the undesirable end. The conception more often comes from forgetfulness than outright desire.

Deuteronomy 32:37-39 And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted, Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection. See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

Do not get lost in your forgetfulness.

Matthew 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

One of the most absurd comments I ever heard after this passage was read came from a man sitting in the pew next to me.

“Well if I am guilty anyway, I might as well go ahead and do it.”

That is tantamount to saying Jesus encourages us to sin. How absurd is that? Jesus was reaching into the hearts of men that felt pious because they had not acted on their deepest desires. Piety is not a matter of curbed desires, it is a matter of a pure heart. Any who think that they can escape justice just because they didn’t commit the crime do not understand the righteous demands of His justice.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Dividing by the sword is judgement and if thoughts and intentions were not important in judgement, then His Word would not have included them.

Who among us can stand up to that kind of scrutiny? I cannot, but that fact does not give me the right to act unseemly. We should view this in light of the righteous demand of that court.

Philippians 3:9-10 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

My Righteous Judge, find me in Christ.