Memorial Day, A Time To Remember

Deuteronomy 8:1-3 5/26/24 A.M.

A person’s mind really is quite an amazing thing. Our BRAIN has a HARD DRIVE that RETAINS THOUGHTS and EVENTS. We call those THOUGHTS and EVENTS, MEMORIES. OUR MEMORIES allow us to RELIVE something that has happened in the past whether it be 10 seconds ago or 10 years ago. Both GOOD and BAD.

I had a RELATIVE, I won’t say who, but they told me that taking trips and vacations was a waste of money. Some of you all might agree and I understand the point. When you spend your HARD EARNED MONEY on something like a vacation, you don’t gain any ASSETS. You have NOTHING to show for it.

But listen, here’s what you do GAIN. You GET MEMORIES!!!

ILLUS: Back when I worked at AA I had what they called Flight Privileges. My family would get on a list and if there were any open seats on an airplane, going where we wanted to go, we could have those seats. And they were FREE for Rachel and I and our kids and they were just a few dollars for my mom and dad. And so we took a quite a few trips with my mom and dad to places we wouldn’t have been able to go if we would have had to buy a ticket. Here’s where I’m going with this. I never thought I could talk my old mama and daddy into flying but when I did, they caught the bug. They were always ready to go. Listen, today they’re gone, but I still have something from those TRIPS that we took. I have WONDERFUL MEMORIES!!!!

Tomorrow is Memorial Day. It’s a day that has been set aside to REMEMBER those who fought and died for you and I and the CAUSE of FREEDOM. We have BIG COOKOUTS. Get togethers. The LAKE is FULL of BOATS. And that’s OK. Go out and enjoy the day. But we need to take time to REMEMBER what the day has been set aside for. To RECALL those BRAVE men and women who gave their LIVES for you and I. To REMEMBER THEM.

And listen, GOD wants us to REMEMBER. I have never preached out of this passage before. At least I DON’T “REMEMBER” preaching out of this passage. You see what I did there? But let’s turn in our Bibles to Deuteronomy 8 and we’ll read Verses 1-3.

“All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers.

2 And thou shalt REMEMBER all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.”

In Deuteronomy 5, Moses begins to speak to the Nation of Israel and the rest of the Book is him speaking to them and telling them to OBEY GOD. Reminding them of God’s STATUTES and COMMANDMENTS. And when you get to the last Chapter, Chapter 34, Moses dies just before the Nation of Israel enters into the Promised Land. And so basically the Book of Deuteronomy is a BOOK of MOSES REMEMBERING and REMINDING the Nation of Israel to remember God's Word.

This morning I want to look at these Verses here in Chapter 8 and see what we can learn from them. But before we do, let’s PRAY.

Brother _____, would you lead us?

For 40 years these people had WANDERED around in the wilderness.

40 years of LIVING off of MANNA and QUAIL that God provided for them to keep them alive.

40 years of REGRETTING that they had gotten SCARED and not crossed over the Jordan River into the Promised Land.

But now they were getting ready to go in. Now Moses won’t be going with them but he wants to give them some LIFE GIVING ADVICE. He tells them here in Verse 1,

“All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live”

Listen, God’s LAW, God’s COMMANDMENTS, His STATUTES were NOT for HIMSELF. They were for HUMANITY. For the Nation of Israel. They were for you and I.

Romans 3:19 and 20 tells us,

“Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.