Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Exodus

Exodus 11-13:16 Part 3 01/04/04

Review: Today we come to the third and final theme in Ex. 11:1-13:16. We have previously examined the theme of Judgment and Death and the theme of Sacrifice and Substitute.

Transition: The last two messages were primarily intended for those who have yet to come to faith in Christ. This final theme of Remembrance and Memorial is primarily intended for those who have already, by faith, accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and the one who has forgiven their sin.

III. Remembrance and Memorial

The last theme almost screams from the text…remember! What did God want the Israelites to remember? 6 things

1. God wanted them to remember the sorrow and bitterness of their bondage in Egypt.

2. God wanted them to remember that their past life was over and their new life as his people has begun.

3. God wanted them to remember that there was once a time when they were in bondage to sin.
    But on this day, this particular day, they were set free.

4. God wanted them to remember that they were delivered by his grace through his powerful, almighty hand.

5. God wanted them to remember that since he had saved them, they now belonged to him.

6. God wanted them to remember, so that others who followed after them would know the great grace
    and power of God to save.

You would think having gone through what they did that unforgettable night, they would never forget what God had done. But we will soon see that they will forget, so much so that they build a golden calf representing the god of Egypt and begin to worship it, instead of the One True God who delivered them from Egyptian slavery.

Truth be told we forget, all of us..we forget.

ILL:  Two elderly women in my church were discussing the problems of growing older. One commented, "The worst thing is when your memory starts to go. I've known you all my life, and I can't think of your name. What is it?" The second lady thought for a moment and said, "Do you need an answer right now?"

Transition: We all forget. But what God did for his people on that unforgettable night, what he did by rescuing them from their bondage in Egypt was never, ever to be forgotten.

God went to great lengths to insure it wouldn’t be forgotten by establishing a memorial to what he had done.

DEF: It is a act or set of actions that helps keep alive the memory of something or someone we don’t want to forget.

Q: What are some of the things we don’t want to forget?
     What are some of the things we do to help us remember what we don’t want to forget?

God set up a way that the Israelites would remember what he did that unforgettable night. He established a memorial. This memorial was made up of a number of rituals. That’s right, a ritual.

We really get hung up on rituals, especially in worship, because of abuses to ritual in the church. But, rituals are only wrong when we forget what we are trying to remember by the ritual, and then just do them for the sake of doing them.

But God established a memorial that included specific rituals so that the Israelites would remember what he had done for them. Let’s see.

1. God reset the calendar. (12:2)

In order for God’s people to remember that their old life of bondage was over and their new life as God’s people had begun, God reset the calendar. The beginning of each new year would be an intentional and continual reminder of their new life in him.

2. God declared a holiday. (12:14, 17)
Notice the word Celebrate (3 x’s)

To remember God’s act of deliverance and their act of faith  the ritual of the Passover was established as part of the holiday. There were two parts to this ritual, one solemn and the other festive.

The first was the solemn part.
 They were to remember the power sin and slavery had over them by eating bitter herbs.
 They were to remember the sacrifice that was made and the substitute given for them by eating a lamb.
 They were to remember their faith in God’s immediate deliverance by eating unleavened bread or bread w/o yeast.

The second part of this ritual was celebration.
We know from the recorded observances of the Passover, that singing, dancing and great joy were part of the feast of Unleavened Bread.

You see, once they remembered where they had come from, they had great reason for rejoicing.
 
3. God demanded obedience. (12:14, 17, 24)
Notice the words Obey and Lasting (2 x’s)

Celebrating the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread was not optional. God commanded it. And not just this one time…but for all time. God knew they would forget, so the ritual of the Passover and the Feast forced people to remember.

4. God expected a witness. (12:26-27; 13:14-16)
God designed this ritual not only to help them remember, but to be instructional for their children. What would happen after those who were eye witnesses to that unforgettable night died?

Unless they passed it on, God’s gracious act of salvation and the people’s heartfelt response of faith would have been forgotten.

The story of the Exodus was to be retold and it’s meaning reinforced, not only by the rituals God established, but by the peoples own testimony. Especially to their children. Twice, they were told to use this ritual to explain to their children what God had done.

Note: While anything said in the Bible is important, anything said more than once ought to really get our attention.

Being a witness, giving testimony to what God has done in our lives, especially to our children, is of utmost importance to our life as Christians.

Conclusion

Was remembrance and memorial only commanded to those Israelites who were delivered from bondage that unforgettable night? No. It is intended for all who have been redeemed, delivered from the bondage of sin the day they received Jesus’ death on the cross as their own.
That’s why I think we should start celebrating our spiritual birthdays. Not to draw unneeded attention to ourselves, but to draw attention to what God had done for us the day we said yes to him.

Establish a ritual in your life to recall that
     -once you were lost but now you are found,
     -once you were blind, but now you see,
     -once you were a child of the Devil but now  you are a child of Almighty God.

Next, bring celebration back into your life. Understand the need for expressing joy though acts of celebration. Let the rituals of both corporate and personal worship force you to solemnly reflect upon and remember who you once were without Christ and then allow you to freely express your joy in celebration of who you are in Christ.

Remember, this is not an option for the Believer. God commands it. You may prefer to focus on the side of solemnity but you are required by God to celebrate you faith with acts of joy and praise.

If you focus on the side of the free expression of joy, you need to remember that you are required by God to solemnly reflect and remember where you came from so you can celebrate where you are.

And this is not a one time act on your part. It is to be a continual and lasting expression in your worship of Almighty God.

Finally, we can not keep God’s goodness to ourselves, Christian. We can not allow the knowledge of what God has done for us to remain with us. Just like the Exodus event was intended to be told and retold so, all of God’s wonderful works in our lives are intended to be told, to be shared with all, but especially with our children. And remember the old adage, with children, more is caught than taught. Watch how you live in front of your children because that is what they will really learn, regardless of what you say to them.

As we begin to draw our attention to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, we need to be reminded that what we do here is a ritual established by Jesus himself, to help us remember.

To remember what He did for us by dying on the cross? Yes!  But not only that.

ILL: A powerful ruler built a great palace. Among the rooms was one that was always locked. He called it the Chamber of Memories. Every day he visited that room, but no one else was permitted inside. Finally one day the servants got a peep inside the locked room. There was no silver, no gold, no precious jewels. All they saw was a humble shepherd's robe; the one the king had worn before he came to the throne. The Lord's Supper reminds us of what we were before Christ found us and how far we have come.

Christian, beloved child of God, as you come to the Table of our Lord, as you participate in the Lord’s Supper,
    -remember what God has done for you,
     -remember your act of faith in him

and let us together celebrate, with great joy, our fellowship with one another and with Almighty God.