Remembering the Resurrection

WEBVTT 1 00:00:11.310 --> 00:00:16.750 So we are here today, on the first day of the week, celebrating 2 00:00:16.789 --> 00:00:23.019 again the resurrection of the dead, or from the dead, of the Lord 3 00:00:23.059 --> 00:00:29.980 Jesus Christ, and here I want to focus on one particular verse that is 4 00:00:30.219 --> 00:00:35.890 in this passage, and versus one through twelve, verse that calls us to 5 00:00:36.009 --> 00:00:41.929 remember. Will think about that this morning, what it means to remember the 6 00:00:42.049 --> 00:00:47.490 resurrection, what it means to remember God's word in our lives. Let's read 7 00:00:47.570 --> 00:00:53.399 now. Let me God bless it to us. Luke Twenty Four. But 8 00:00:53.560 --> 00:00:57.200 on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to 9 00:00:57.320 --> 00:01:00.200 the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared, and they found the stone 10 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:04.030 rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find 11 00:01:04.069 --> 00:01:08.870 the body of Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold two men 12 00:01:10.069 --> 00:01:14.709 stood by them and dazzling apparel, and as they were frightened and bowed their 13 00:01:14.790 --> 00:01:18.700 faces to the ground, the men said to them, why do you seek 14 00:01:18.739 --> 00:01:23.459 the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen. Remember 15 00:01:23.700 --> 00:01:27.180 how he told you, why, while he was still in Galilee, that 16 00:01:27.299 --> 00:01:32.859 the son of man must be delivered into the hands of Sinful Man men and 17 00:01:33.010 --> 00:01:37.730 be crucified on the be and be crucified and on the third day rise. 18 00:01:38.810 --> 00:01:42.129 And they remembered his words and, returning from the tomb, they told all 19 00:01:42.170 --> 00:01:47.049 these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary 20 00:01:47.129 --> 00:01:51.480 Magdalen and Joanna and Mary, the mother of James, and the other women 21 00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:56.120 with them who told these things to the apostles. But these words seemed to 22 00:01:56.200 --> 00:02:00.799 them in idle tale. They did not believe them. The Peter Rose and 23 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:05.469 ran to the tomb. Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths 24 00:02:05.510 --> 00:02:27.419 by themselves and he went home marveling at what had happened. In one of 25 00:02:27.460 --> 00:02:31.210 my favorite scenes from the chronicles of Narnia and Jill, the hero of the 26 00:02:31.289 --> 00:02:36.490 story of the Silver Chair, one of the heroes in that story. She's 27 00:02:36.569 --> 00:02:40.969 on a quest to go and rescue this prince and as land, a lion 28 00:02:42.530 --> 00:02:46.719 meets her and guides her on this journey. He gives her instructions and I 29 00:02:46.840 --> 00:02:53.360 want to read what he says to her. He gives her some signs and 30 00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:55.879 says to look through these signs on her journey, on her quest. They 31 00:02:55.879 --> 00:03:00.229 will guide her. And he says this to her. But first remember, 32 00:03:00.469 --> 00:03:06.509 remember, remember, the signs say them to yourself when you wake in the 33 00:03:06.590 --> 00:03:08.789 morning and when you lie down at night, when you wake in the middle 34 00:03:08.789 --> 00:03:13.659 of the night, and whatever strange things may happen to you, let nothing 35 00:03:13.819 --> 00:03:17.740 turn your mind from following the signs. And secondly, I give you a 36 00:03:17.900 --> 00:03:23.219 warning. Here on the mountain, I've spoken clearly to you. I will 37 00:03:23.300 --> 00:03:27.370 not often do so down in Narnia. Here on the mountain the air is 38 00:03:27.490 --> 00:03:30.330 clear and your mind is clear. As you dropped down into Narnia, the 39 00:03:30.409 --> 00:03:36.050 air will thicken. Take great care that it does not confuse your mind, 40 00:03:36.090 --> 00:03:39.770 and the signs which you have learned here will not look at all as you 41 00:03:39.889 --> 00:03:44.719 expect them to look when you meet them there. That is why it is 42 00:03:44.840 --> 00:03:50.599 so important to know them by heart and pay attention and pay no attention to 43 00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:58.430 appearances. Remember the signs and believe the signs. Nothing else matters. Well, 44 00:03:58.469 --> 00:04:01.550 as you may know, Jill does not remember the signs. She forgets 45 00:04:01.669 --> 00:04:05.949 the signs. She forgets them by not repeating them, by not by not 46 00:04:06.189 --> 00:04:11.139 trust, by trusting and that show, they'll just be there. As land 47 00:04:11.180 --> 00:04:15.500 gives her these specific instructions to call them to mind, which is what it 48 00:04:15.659 --> 00:04:19.060 means to remember and over time, they grow cold and fuzzy. When she 49 00:04:19.139 --> 00:04:24.490 finds herself in a terrible predicament and is asked to repeat the signs, she 50 00:04:24.649 --> 00:04:29.970 discovers that she can't do it. She assumes that she remembers rather than remembering, 51 00:04:30.050 --> 00:04:33.810 and perhaps that has happened to you as well. When it comes to 52 00:04:33.930 --> 00:04:39.199 the word of God, to the signs, to the truths of the resurrection, 53 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:44.399 versus that you once knew and once heard are now a little bit fuzzy, 54 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:49.879 concepts that you could once articulate clearly and precisely, with differentiating categories, 55 00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:56.110 using the right qualifications, making sense of things. Now it's kind of muddled 56 00:04:56.149 --> 00:05:00.670 and it's hard to explain. Of course, we all none of us has 57 00:05:00.870 --> 00:05:05.069 a superior minds. That is just ever, ever growing right most of us. 58 00:05:05.069 --> 00:05:09.379 As we get older, we tend to lose some of that ability, 59 00:05:09.459 --> 00:05:14.620 a lose our ability to remember, to stay sharp. But then again, 60 00:05:14.779 --> 00:05:17.819 it's also true that many people, as they get older, they follow the 61 00:05:17.939 --> 00:05:23.769 well worn paths. The things that they have spent remembering and practicing their whole 62 00:05:23.850 --> 00:05:28.370 lives over and over and over again tend to be the paths that they continue 63 00:05:28.449 --> 00:05:34.569 to follow. Remembering is important in the Bible, talks about remembering quite a 64 00:05:34.649 --> 00:05:40.199 lot. In fact, remembering is repeated over and over and over and over 65 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:43.680 in the scriptures, perhaps for a reason, not only to highlights, that 66 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:48.839 is importance, but God himself is helping us in the remembering by the repetition. 67 00:05:49.990 --> 00:05:54.430 Perhaps you've been reading a portion of scripture before you you say to yourself, 68 00:05:54.910 --> 00:05:59.870 didn't he just say this a few verses before? Why are all these 69 00:06:00.149 --> 00:06:03.779 instructions being repeated two chapters later after we just had them, you know, 70 00:06:03.980 --> 00:06:09.500 two chapters before. Perhaps one of the reasons is that God wants us to 71 00:06:09.939 --> 00:06:15.420 remember. He is repeating the instructions, he's repeating the stories, he is 72 00:06:15.819 --> 00:06:20.529 telling them over and over again, perhaps with different ways and in different contexts, 73 00:06:21.250 --> 00:06:28.769 but nevertheless to help us to remember. The Bible itself is a book 74 00:06:28.970 --> 00:06:33.680 for Minds, a book for memories of Believers. Listen to how Peter starts 75 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:39.079 his second letter, Second Peter One. Well, that's not the start. 76 00:06:39.399 --> 00:06:43.199 A little bit later on he says, this is now the second letter that 77 00:06:43.319 --> 00:06:46.430 I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring 78 00:06:46.470 --> 00:06:54.350 up your sincere mind by way of reminder. That's what Peter intends to do 79 00:06:54.750 --> 00:06:58.750 in his first letter and his second letter. He intends to speak to these 80 00:06:58.949 --> 00:07:04.779 people and stir up their sincere mind by way of a reminder. He wants 81 00:07:04.860 --> 00:07:09.220 to remind them of things. Paul says this in his letters to he'll say 82 00:07:09.259 --> 00:07:12.819 things like, I know you know this, but I am here to remind 83 00:07:12.899 --> 00:07:18.329 you that this is these sorts of things should never be an annoyance to us. 84 00:07:19.170 --> 00:07:23.329 They should be our delight. It's a help that the Lord gives to 85 00:07:23.449 --> 00:07:30.800 us at the beginning of Deuteronomy and Deuteronomy Eight, verse Eighteen, speaking of 86 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:34.600 this covenant that God is making with his people as they enter into the promised 87 00:07:34.600 --> 00:07:40.319 land, he says this. You shall remember the Lord, your God, 88 00:07:41.399 --> 00:07:45.589 for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may 89 00:07:45.670 --> 00:07:48.670 confirm his covenant that he swore to your father's as it is to this day. 90 00:07:49.670 --> 00:07:53.550 In fact, throughout Deuteronomy, over and over and over again, there 91 00:07:53.629 --> 00:07:58.980 is the command to remember, to remember, to remember. In fact, 92 00:07:59.500 --> 00:08:03.540 in Deuteronomy and in other places of scripture, memory is even embedded God, 93 00:08:03.220 --> 00:08:11.500 or the call to remember is embedded in our cupon concept of time itself. 94 00:08:15.209 --> 00:08:20.769 Listen to Deuteronomy undred fifteen. You shall remember that you were a slave in 95 00:08:20.810 --> 00:08:24.889 the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there 96 00:08:26.050 --> 00:08:31.519 with a mighty hand and outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord Your God commanded 97 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:39.720 you to keep the Sabbath Day. It's not amazing. Remember this. Therefore, 98 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:46.070 keep that God calls his people to embd in there. The way they 99 00:08:46.389 --> 00:08:52.429 live their lives, the way they order their days, a practice of memory, 100 00:08:54.070 --> 00:08:58.100 of memorizing, of remembering. They are to set aside a day every 101 00:08:58.179 --> 00:09:03.139 week to remember the covenant, to remember who they are, to row, 102 00:09:03.259 --> 00:09:07.500 to place in their minds and in their families and in their people that we 103 00:09:07.860 --> 00:09:11.330 are people who were slaves, who are brought out of the land of Egypt 104 00:09:13.090 --> 00:09:18.450 with a mighty hand, in an outstretched arm. Christians continue this practice on 105 00:09:18.529 --> 00:09:22.169 the Lord's Day, the first day of the week, when Jesus rose from 106 00:09:22.169 --> 00:09:24.639 the dead and let us, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, 107 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:31.240 out of the slavery of Sin, out of slavery, from death and bondage 108 00:09:31.240 --> 00:09:35.600 to the evil one, into a new kingdom as a new people, a 109 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:41.309 kingdom of priests, an everlasting Kingdom of God. We set it outside this 110 00:09:41.350 --> 00:09:46.710 day to remember, to remember who God is and what he has done and 111 00:09:46.909 --> 00:09:50.830 so strikingly now, even here at the resurrection on the first day of the 112 00:09:50.909 --> 00:09:56.899 week, this call to remember appears again, first in a reminder that they 113 00:09:56.980 --> 00:10:01.100 did not remember, and then a call that and then and then the in 114 00:10:01.179 --> 00:10:07.769 verse eight that they did remember. So Jesus arises from the dead. There 115 00:10:07.769 --> 00:10:11.450 are these two angels there and they speak to the women that the tomb. 116 00:10:13.169 --> 00:10:16.730 They say he's not here and he's not risen. Remember how he told you 117 00:10:16.289 --> 00:10:20.850 then, in other words, they're telling them to call to their minds things 118 00:10:20.929 --> 00:10:24.200 that they had previously and been told. It told and what have they've been 119 00:10:24.279 --> 00:10:30.399 told while he was still in Galilee, before all of this happened? Verse 120 00:10:30.440 --> 00:10:33.279 Seven, that the son of man must be delivered into the hands of Sinful 121 00:10:33.320 --> 00:10:39.110 men and be crucified on the Third Day and be crucified and on the third 122 00:10:39.110 --> 00:10:45.110 day rise. This doesn't just appear here. If you look back through the 123 00:10:45.190 --> 00:10:48.629 Gospels, you'll find this actually happened several times and it's written where the Lord 124 00:10:48.789 --> 00:10:54.019 tells them this is what is going to happen, I am going to be 125 00:10:54.139 --> 00:11:01.179 crucified, I am going to rise on the third day. But they hadn't 126 00:11:01.220 --> 00:11:05.009 remembered. We see that in their actions. We see that in the disciples 127 00:11:05.049 --> 00:11:09.090 actions as well as these women do remember it. In Verse Eight, we 128 00:11:09.169 --> 00:11:13.049 read and they remembered his words. All he did say that. Oh what 129 00:11:13.129 --> 00:11:18.529 it would have happened if they had remembered. We wonder how might have their 130 00:11:18.570 --> 00:11:22.000 reactions been different? How might have Peter's reactions been different there in the courtyard 131 00:11:24.039 --> 00:11:28.840 or in the garden of the ASEMONE? How, my Judas is, reactions 132 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:35.389 have been different if he had remembered what God had said? They didn't remember. 133 00:11:35.470 --> 00:11:37.789 And even as these women do remember, and now they go and tell 134 00:11:37.909 --> 00:11:41.789 to the eleven what all the rest, sadly, they don't believe them. 135 00:11:41.870 --> 00:11:50.740 These words seem to them an idle tale. Why? Why did those words 136 00:11:50.779 --> 00:11:54.580 seem to be an idle tale when they were the words that Jesus himself had 137 00:11:54.659 --> 00:12:05.850 said? Maybe because he was dead? That would be hard, I don't 138 00:12:05.850 --> 00:12:16.759 know. But they certainly hadn't remembered, and now there was an opportunity to 139 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:22.519 learn again. Peter begins to listen, he rises, he runs to the 140 00:12:22.600 --> 00:12:24.799 tomb, stooping any looking in, he sees the linen clothes and he goes 141 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:33.149 home marveling at what had happened. So we see that memory, remembering the 142 00:12:33.309 --> 00:12:37.750 Lord in his work, that particularly these chief actions, in the promises that 143 00:12:37.830 --> 00:12:43.590 he makes, are essential to who we are as a people. When we 144 00:12:43.750 --> 00:12:46.980 don't remember, we fall apart. When we don't remember, we are no 145 00:12:48.220 --> 00:12:56.340 longer tied to him. We are a people of words, a people of 146 00:12:56.460 --> 00:13:01.210 a book. Many other religions make things up about their gods and they have 147 00:13:01.370 --> 00:13:05.009 no problem with this. It's not sort of an intellectual or religious problem to 148 00:13:05.090 --> 00:13:09.049 have changing truths about their deities. It just it's okay, it's not a 149 00:13:09.129 --> 00:13:13.679 big why? But it's a big deal for us. Why do we why 150 00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:18.080 do we make such a big deal about God's wording being infallible and unchanging and 151 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:22.399 always true and not contradictory? Other people don't seem to have a problem with 152 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:28.470 their gods, at their deities, their powers, changing and morphing and moving. 153 00:13:28.710 --> 00:13:33.190 Why is that a big deal to us? Because we are called to 154 00:13:33.389 --> 00:13:37.870 remember his words, not speculate about him, not make them up, not 155 00:13:37.070 --> 00:13:41.139 hope they were something different, but to remember the things that he has said. 156 00:13:43.580 --> 00:13:46.539 And other religions, as long as you kind of have a general path 157 00:13:46.820 --> 00:13:52.100 for righteousness and a general way to practice of religious kinds of things, an 158 00:13:52.220 --> 00:13:58.009 idol that you can keep around. It basically works. We're stricter, really 159 00:14:01.009 --> 00:14:05.409 not in a bad way, though. We have this principle that says everything 160 00:14:05.529 --> 00:14:11.000 depends on the word, everything depends on the truthfulness of what God has said, 161 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:15.799 everything depends on that reliability and the life that comes to it from it. 162 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:22.399 As a result. This comes from the word itself. Hebrews for twelve. 163 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:26.190 The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged 164 00:14:26.269 --> 00:14:31.309 sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of 165 00:14:31.429 --> 00:14:37.590 marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Second Timothy and 166 00:14:37.590 --> 00:14:41.779 sixteen. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for 167 00:14:41.899 --> 00:14:46.820 reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness that the man of God may 168 00:14:46.860 --> 00:14:52.850 be complete equipped for every good work. Romans and sixteen. Paul stamps his 169 00:14:52.970 --> 00:14:58.730 foot verbally and says I am not ashamed of the Gospel. I'm not embarrassed 170 00:15:01.049 --> 00:15:05.409 because it's the power of God. The Gospel is the power of God for 171 00:15:05.529 --> 00:15:09.519 salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 172 00:15:09.559 --> 00:15:15.120 Everyone who believes what Paul The Gospel, the word of God, the 173 00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:20.679 promise of the Resurrection, the promise that Jesus died for our sins and rose 174 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:31.830 from the dead. Are Remembering, we might say, is centered in this 175 00:15:33.149 --> 00:15:41.179 chief work of God. Are Remembering is centered in his word that has come 176 00:15:41.340 --> 00:15:45.059 to us in this gracious way. Or, if I could put it in 177 00:15:45.220 --> 00:15:52.690 this way, I'm are remembering flows from God's remembering, or we remember because 178 00:15:52.730 --> 00:16:00.570 he remembered us. He gave us, in our sin, promises of grace 179 00:16:00.210 --> 00:16:03.440 that, if we hold to in our hearts, we receive all these blessings 180 00:16:03.960 --> 00:16:11.399 from him, because God has been faithful to his own word. Let me 181 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:14.679 make this a little clearer. Listen to Psalm one hundred and five eight. 182 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:21.789 He remembers his covenant, the word that he commanded for a thousand generations. 183 00:16:25.830 --> 00:16:27.789 Here's a good verse from Isaiah, Forty Three and twenty five. I I 184 00:16:29.269 --> 00:16:33.179 am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, I will not 185 00:16:33.539 --> 00:16:41.980 remember your sins. Does God forget our sins because he is a forgetful being? 186 00:16:42.899 --> 00:16:47.139 No, he forgets them in the sense that he's like. He says, 187 00:16:47.169 --> 00:16:49.129 I'm not going to call them to mind and hold them against you. 188 00:16:49.529 --> 00:16:55.610 I'm not going to prosecuting, prosecute these things against you. Why? Because 189 00:16:55.649 --> 00:17:00.570 I remember the covenant of Grace that I made to you, my promise to 190 00:17:00.649 --> 00:17:06.920 you that I would forgive your sins. Because God remembers his promises, we 191 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:12.480 are safe from judgment. So, thinking about signs again, Jill and her 192 00:17:12.599 --> 00:17:18.470 signs. Remember the rainbow, for example, in Genesis UN undred and sixteen, 193 00:17:18.750 --> 00:17:22.670 God says, when the bow is in the clouds, I will see 194 00:17:22.710 --> 00:17:30.019 it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature, of all 195 00:17:30.059 --> 00:17:38.299 the flesh that is on the earth. These are God's promises to us. 196 00:17:40.779 --> 00:17:47.849 He promises to us that he will remember his covenant of Grace and as he 197 00:17:48.089 --> 00:17:55.450 gives that to us, that's what we are called to remember. I'll just 198 00:17:55.569 --> 00:18:03.079 a couple things before we finish. The first is how beneficial this is when 199 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:07.359 we do remember and how dangerous it is when we don't. We know God 200 00:18:07.480 --> 00:18:12.390 through his word, not apart from his word, so to fail to remember 201 00:18:12.430 --> 00:18:18.309 it means we end up like Jill, in a bad situation, struggling, 202 00:18:18.950 --> 00:18:25.470 even very and often sometimes even in deadly situations. When we forget the way, 203 00:18:25.710 --> 00:18:29.259 we lose our way, we stumble. That's what happened with the disciples 204 00:18:29.299 --> 00:18:33.539 here. They're scared, they're hiding, they're afraid, unnecessarily so. Why? 205 00:18:34.140 --> 00:18:41.420 Because they didn't remember. When we depart from God's promises in the Resurrection, 206 00:18:41.569 --> 00:18:45.890 the promises of the Cross, we get lost, we get isolated, 207 00:18:47.930 --> 00:18:52.329 we get alone. God's Word is like a map. It keeps US moving 208 00:18:52.369 --> 00:18:56.960 in the right direction. It's also like a fire that keeps our hearts warm. 209 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:00.799 Sometimes we're doing what we ought to do, but we kind of forget 210 00:19:00.839 --> 00:19:04.079 why we're doing it, who were doing it for. We forget about God's 211 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:10.000 Love, we forget about as peace, his strength, his goodness, and 212 00:19:10.150 --> 00:19:14.950 when we do, all can seem lost. When we struggle, when we 213 00:19:15.150 --> 00:19:21.269 fight, for example, Paul says that the things that we endure right now, 214 00:19:21.789 --> 00:19:25.259 you can think about, whatever is going on in your life, the 215 00:19:25.420 --> 00:19:32.420 things that we in do are right now are a light, momentary affliction compared 216 00:19:32.500 --> 00:19:36.940 to the eternal weight of glory that is to be revealed on the last day. 217 00:19:37.460 --> 00:19:40.809 So whatever you're suffering, no matter how hard it is or, I 218 00:19:40.930 --> 00:19:44.170 mean, how many tears you've cried over it this week, Paul calls it 219 00:19:44.250 --> 00:19:47.970 a light, momentary affliction, and that would be very cruel thing to say 220 00:19:48.490 --> 00:19:55.599 for those of us who legitimately suffer very hard things. If the comparison we're 221 00:19:55.640 --> 00:19:59.559 not true. And know how he talks about the comparison. He says it's 222 00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:04.160 not even worth comparing to the eternal way of glory that is to be revealed. 223 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:11.109 But if you don't know about the eternal weight of glory, if you 224 00:20:11.150 --> 00:20:14.950 don't know about what's coming, if you don't know about the resurrection of Christ, 225 00:20:14.990 --> 00:20:18.150 if you don't know about our resurrection in him on that last day, 226 00:20:18.430 --> 00:20:25.619 blite momentary affliction is going to not feel very light or momentary. When we 227 00:20:25.740 --> 00:20:29.380 don't remember God's words, when we don't repeat the signs and when they get 228 00:20:29.700 --> 00:20:37.650 fuzzy and distant, we put ourselves in danger. Listen to what God speaks 229 00:20:38.650 --> 00:20:45.609 in revelation three, to the church in Sardis and to the angel of the 230 00:20:45.650 --> 00:20:51.400 Church of Sardas right, the words of him who has the seven spirits of 231 00:20:51.480 --> 00:20:56.200 God in the seven stars. I know your works. You have the reputation 232 00:20:56.440 --> 00:21:04.349 of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up and strengthen what remains 233 00:21:04.430 --> 00:21:08.190 and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in 234 00:21:08.309 --> 00:21:15.789 the side of my God. Remember, then, what you have received and 235 00:21:15.109 --> 00:21:21.940 heard, keep it and repent. If you will not wake up, I 236 00:21:22.059 --> 00:21:26.180 will come like a thief and you will not know at what hour I come 237 00:21:26.299 --> 00:21:30.900 against you. That's a dangerous situation. The Church of Sardas is in a 238 00:21:30.019 --> 00:21:34.930 dangerous situation and they are receiving the word of God, much like these angels 239 00:21:34.970 --> 00:21:38.730 spoke to these women at the Tomb, saying remember, wake up, wake 240 00:21:38.769 --> 00:21:45.170 up, remember what you were told. The good news of God's word, 241 00:21:45.289 --> 00:21:48.839 though, is that when we hold fast to God's word, even it's an 242 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:55.079 even if it's at the very last moment, it can be our salvation and 243 00:21:55.200 --> 00:22:00.279 a joy to our hearts. Remember Jonah, to Jonah, chapter two, 244 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:04.309 verse seven. He prays and he says, when my life was fainting away. 245 00:22:04.430 --> 00:22:08.190 This is him as he's being clobbered by seaweeds and pulled down into the 246 00:22:08.269 --> 00:22:11.829 depths of the earth. He says, reflecting on that, when my life 247 00:22:11.950 --> 00:22:18.900 was fainting away, I remembered the Lord and my prayer came to you into 248 00:22:18.420 --> 00:22:26.980 your Holy Temple. In first less Lonians, for Paul Talks about the resurrection 249 00:22:26.619 --> 00:22:30.849 that is to come when Jesus returns, and he finishes by saying, therefore, 250 00:22:32.009 --> 00:22:36.450 encourage one another with these words. Talk to each other about this, 251 00:22:36.970 --> 00:22:40.210 tell each other about this, and you might say yourself, yeah, but 252 00:22:40.329 --> 00:22:44.880 they already know. Yes, they do, and they're supposed to remember and 253 00:22:45.079 --> 00:22:49.759 you're supposed to remember, and that doesn't happen without the repetition. Remembering is 254 00:22:51.240 --> 00:22:56.599 remembering, it's calling to mind these things again, and so, though we 255 00:22:56.680 --> 00:23:00.309 may feel fail to remember, and that may put us in grave danger, 256 00:23:02.069 --> 00:23:06.750 if we remember, even in the midst of great danger, there is hope. 257 00:23:07.509 --> 00:23:12.019 So follow the example of the psalmist and Psalm forty two six and my 258 00:23:12.220 --> 00:23:18.299 God, my soul is cast down within me. Therefore, I remember you. 259 00:23:19.099 --> 00:23:23.299 If your soul is cast down, this is the time to remember. 260 00:23:23.940 --> 00:23:30.730 This is the time to cling to the promises of God in Christ. And 261 00:23:30.890 --> 00:23:37.769 lastly, when we remember these things, that news, that word, begins 262 00:23:37.809 --> 00:23:41.640 to spread. That's what happens with these women here at the Tomb. They 263 00:23:41.799 --> 00:23:47.720 remembered his words and then they went and told them to the eleven. And 264 00:23:47.799 --> 00:23:51.599 then will happen with the eleven later as well, Jesus promises, as he 265 00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:55.990 meets with them right before he is crucified. He says to them the Holy 266 00:23:56.109 --> 00:23:59.470 Spirit, after I die, the Holy Spirit will I will send my Holy 267 00:23:59.509 --> 00:24:03.309 Spirit and he will cause you to remember everything that I'm telling you right now. 268 00:24:04.630 --> 00:24:08.829 I wonder if they thought to themselves, why would we forget, which, 269 00:24:08.910 --> 00:24:11.980 of course, what we say to ourselves. Why would I forget this? 270 00:24:11.220 --> 00:24:15.819 I don't need to remember it, but we do, and God helps 271 00:24:15.859 --> 00:24:19.380 us. The God gave them their his Holy Spirit, and they remembered, 272 00:24:19.460 --> 00:24:22.779 and then they took those words and they spread them into all of the world, 273 00:24:23.809 --> 00:24:30.009 so that even we can also remember. When we remember the word, 274 00:24:32.250 --> 00:24:37.009 we become people who can now pass on the word. We can be people 275 00:24:37.089 --> 00:24:41.839 that share the word both outside of our church, outside of our families, 276 00:24:41.960 --> 00:24:48.920 and inside of them as well. Deuteronomy thirty two seven says remember the days 277 00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:53.509 of old, consider the years of many generations. Ask Your father and he 278 00:24:53.670 --> 00:24:59.950 will show you, your elders and they will tell you. There are to 279 00:25:00.069 --> 00:25:03.990 be people among us, especially those who have been around and if experience the 280 00:25:04.109 --> 00:25:08.660 things of the Lord, to be able to pass that on, to share 281 00:25:08.700 --> 00:25:15.180 it, to steward of that gift and express it to others. And this 282 00:25:15.380 --> 00:25:21.529 is the work of God. He causes these things to be remembered. Psalm 283 00:25:21.609 --> 00:25:26.769 Ninety eight three. He has remembered his steadfast, love and faithfulness to the 284 00:25:26.809 --> 00:25:30.650 House of Israel. All the ends of the Earth have seen the salvation of 285 00:25:30.769 --> 00:25:37.640 our God, because God remembers his promises. We remember them too, and 286 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:42.319 all the world here is his word. This is who our God is. 287 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:49.910 Let's remember him. Sometimes people wonder why we repeat things a lot in our 288 00:25:49.950 --> 00:25:55.750 worship service. The Nice and create the Apostles creed the Lord's prayer, of 289 00:25:55.950 --> 00:26:02.750 the Same Commandments, the same Gospel. Now you know the answer, because 290 00:26:02.789 --> 00:26:08.099 we need to remember and we're forgetful. Through God's Word we come close to 291 00:26:08.220 --> 00:26:12.660 God. We come to him not through innovations and speculations, not through new 292 00:26:12.740 --> 00:26:17.180 things made up, but through the fixed word he is given, through his 293 00:26:17.299 --> 00:26:22.289 promises, through his commands, through his histories, through his palms. We 294 00:26:22.369 --> 00:26:26.609 draw close to him. To fail to do so puts us in peril, 295 00:26:26.609 --> 00:26:30.089 as it did with Jonah, but it can also save us if we remember 296 00:26:30.210 --> 00:26:34.599 and believe in time, and it can save others to let's pray that God 297 00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:38.799 would help us to remember and that we would cling fast to his promises. 298 00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:45.000 In Christ, our heavenly father, we thank you that you have given us 299 00:26:45.160 --> 00:26:48.269 the opportunity first to hear your word and to know it and understand it. 300 00:26:49.150 --> 00:26:52.630 Having heard it. Lord, let us not set it aside, but put 301 00:26:52.670 --> 00:26:57.390 it deep within our hearts, deep within our minds. Let your word and 302 00:26:57.470 --> 00:27:04.420 your promises and that are confessed in them become to us well worn paths, 303 00:27:06.380 --> 00:27:11.339 maybe repeat them constantly, over and over and in the places where we find 304 00:27:11.380 --> 00:27:18.210 ourselves and unfamiliar territory, in places where we don't really know, let us 305 00:27:18.250 --> 00:27:23.369 return to your word and refamiliarize or learn for the first time what it is 306 00:27:23.450 --> 00:27:29.130 you have said, what it is you have done. And as we grow 307 00:27:29.210 --> 00:27:33.680 in these things, Lord, less desire, a deeper and deeper appreciation for 308 00:27:33.799 --> 00:27:40.640 them. Teach us not to be satisfied with the with fuzzy understandings, but 309 00:27:40.759 --> 00:27:48.430 let us glory in knowing you and knowing you more and more intimately and getting 310 00:27:48.470 --> 00:27:52.190 closer and closer to you and understanding your likes and your dislikes, your love, 311 00:27:52.349 --> 00:27:56.869 the things you love and the things you hate, the things you desire 312 00:27:56.269 --> 00:28:00.740 and promised, the ways in which you have called us to live and to 313 00:28:00.859 --> 00:28:07.420 act and to share this word for with others. We ask also that you 314 00:28:07.019 --> 00:28:12.569 would help us to share it with others, to be a people that know 315 00:28:12.809 --> 00:28:18.329 your word and share whatever we have of it, with those who don't, 316 00:28:18.250 --> 00:28:23.490 so that they might rise to and run to the Tomb and marvel at what 317 00:28:23.609 --> 00:28:30.839 has happened, giving you all praise and honor and glory and worship. Finally, 318 00:28:30.920 --> 00:28:33.599 Lord, as we come to the Lord's Supper now, we thank you 319 00:28:33.759 --> 00:28:36.920 for this sign and we thank you that you have given it to us that 320 00:28:37.000 --> 00:28:41.630 we might remember when proclaim the Lord's death. Until he returns, please help 321 00:28:41.670 --> 00:28:45.190 us to partake in a manner that is pleasing to you, and we pray 322 00:28:45.269 --> 00:28:47.230 this in Jesus name.