John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
What do you think of when you think of Memorial Day - the beginning of summer vacation, barbecues in the back yard, family get-togethers?
While remembering certain things can be traumatic. The ability to remember is a wonderful gift God has given us. In a flash we can be a child again, skipping rocks across a pond, or walking in a meadow. Through memory we can fall in love, get married, & enjoy our children all over again. All this is possible through the blessing of memory.
Memorial day began as Decoration DAY. A day set aside to place flowers on the civil war dead. In scripture we find that God has given us some things to remember.
After God destroyed the earth in a flood, He told Noah, “I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” (Genesis 9:11)
Then God stated, “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, & it will be the sign of the covenant between me & the earth.” (Genesis 9:13) So every time we see a rainbow, it serves as a reminder of God’s promise.
Another memorial was erected when Joshua led the people of Israel across the Jordan River. Remember, the water stopped flowing just as the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant stepped into the water at the river’s edge. Then they stood in the middle of the river until the people had crossed safely into the Promised Land.
While they were crossing, Joshua told 12 men, one from each of the 12 tribes, to go into the middle of the riverbed & select 12 large stones. They brought those stones up onto the riverbank & made a monument out of them there.
In Joshua 4:6-7 Joshua tells them, “In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.
“When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”
There are special days & times in the Bible designed to help us remember specific events. I want to call your attention to 2 of them this morning. You know the stories behind each one, but listen again & see how God uses them to jog our memories & help us remember important things.
I. THE FEAST OF PASSOVER
A. The first one is the Feast of Passover. You know the history behind it - that the people of Israel had been sojourners & then slaves in Egypt for over 400 years. Then God called Moses & said, “Moses, I want you to go back to Egypt & say to Pharaoh, ‘Let my people go!’”
Moses did as God commanded, but Pharaoh refused to listen. So, to reinforce His demand, God sent plague after plague upon Egypt. And every time, when the plague was at its worst, Pharaoh would say, “Stop the plague & I’ll let the people go.” But after every plague Pharaoh would renege on his promise & continue their slavery.
Finally, Moses tells the Egyptian officials, “This is what the Lord says, ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die… There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt – worse than there has ever been or ever will be again.’” (Exodus 11:4-6)
B. Then God gave instructions to the Israelites, “Each family is to choose a year-old lamb, one without spot or blemish, the best in all the flock.”
You know, one of the things we have forgotten today is that we’re supposed to offer our best to God. Instead, we tend to keep the best for ourselves, & God gets the leftovers. But the Biblical principle has always been the same: God deserves our best. And if we love Him, then we will give Him our best.
God told them, “Kill that lamb, & drain its blood into a basin. Then roast the lamb. But before you eat, “Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin & put some of the blood on the top & on both sides of the doorframe.” (Exodus 12:22)
“On that same night I will pass through Egypt & strike down every firstborn – both men & animals – and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.
“The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; & when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.” (Exodus 12:12-13)
So someone in every Jewish home took hyssop, dipped it in the blood, & put it on the doorframe. And that night, just as God had told them, He brought judgment upon Egypt, & there was weeping & wailing in the homes of the Egyptians. But wherever God saw the blood of the lamb, those homes were spared.
The next morning, Exodus 12:33 tells us, “The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country.” After 400 years of bondage they were free!
God said, “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord – a lasting ordinance.” (Exodus 12:14)
Over 3,500 years have passed since that day, & every year faithful Jews still celebrate, still remember Passover. And it’s important that we don’t forget, either.
II. THE DAY OF WORSHIP
A. Now the second memorial I want to mention is today - the day of worship.
It all started in the beginning when God created the heavens & the earth. God worked 6 days in creation, & on the 7th day He rested. The Bible tells us that God consecrated that day & called it the Sabbath, a day for rest.
In the Ten Commandments God told the Jews that they were to remember the Sabbath day & to keep it holy. So the Sabbath became a day of worship & rest.
B. When Jesus was crucified & buried & then raised from the dead, He was raised on the first day of the week.
Then the Day of Pentecost came, another first day of the week. The Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles, & the church began as 3,000 responded the first time ever that the Gospel was preached.
Soon the early Christians were meeting regularly upon the first day of the week to worship God & encourage one another. And in the Book of Revelation the Apostle John spoke of this day of worship as “The Lord’s Day.” And so it is to those of us who gather to worship Him on this day.
I pray that this church will always recognize that whenever we come together we have come to meet a holy & righteous God - to remember what He has done for us, & to rededicate ourselves to Him.
II. WE SHOULD REMEMBER THE PIT THAT WAS PRIOR TO OUR SALVATION. Psalm 9:15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
Psalm 40:2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
III. WE ARE TO REMEMBER THE TRUTHS OF GOD.
A. (John 14:26) But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
B. (Rev 3:3) Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
WE ARE TO REMEMBER THE LORD
(Neh 4:14) And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.
A. Remember Him With Our Time.
B. Remember Him With Our Talent.
C. Remember Him With Our Treasure.
D. Remember Him In Our Thoughts.
E. Remember Him In Our Tasks.
F. Remember His Mercy And Goodness.
Let’s not forget these things that are so important.
Remember His Dying Love. “Father, forgive them.”
Remember His Comforting Call. “Come unto me.”
Remember His Charge. “Go ye into all the world and preach.”
Remember His Commandments. “If ye love me keep my commandments.”
(Judg 2:10) And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.
In Deuteronomy 8:2 Israel was told “REMEMBER how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart.”
* Deuteronomy 5:15 - “REMEMBER that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm…”
* Psalm 105:5 “REMEMBER the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced”
And in the New Testament Revelation 3:3 declares “REMEMBER, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent…”
Remember, Remember, Remember.
Psalm 103.2 “Bless the Lord oh my soul, and forget none of His benefits.”
