“By Way of Remembrance”
B.R.: LUKE 23:33-38
TEXT: 2Pe 3:1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
2Pe 3:2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour.
In the last few months, The Lord, by His Spirit, has taken my life through a definite transformation. He opened my eyes to things in the Word of God that I have read before, but just didn’t exactly see it in the light, so to speak.
My life has been challenged in ways only God would know. The Lord has challenged my:
* soul winning
* Prayer life
* My preaching
And the most challenging thing of all…my attitude. Ever since I got saved, there’s one thing that I set in my life that’s firm, and that is, I’m a hard person to influence.
Before I came to God, I was always influenced by someone trying to get me to do what they wanted me to do. I was always trying to be what someone else wanted me to be. But after I came to Christ, I ask myself daily…Is this what God wants me to do?? And God, by his Spirit backs it up by his Word.
Introduction: As I read in my bible reading, we find Jesus being led and placed on the cross. (READ LUKE 23:27)
There was a lot of commotion going on at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, a lot of mockery, a lot of ridicule.
No doubt, there were people there that Jesus had healed at one time. Maybe there was:
* A man at one time who was blind, gazing at the sight of Christ, with tears strolling down his face, remembering when Christ had touched his blinded eyes, and he received his sight.
* Or a woman, who was once crippled, standing on her own, with a baby in her arms, remembering when Jesus came her way, and touched her weak legs and made them strong again.
* Or the boy, who was once deaf, could not believe what he was hearing about the man who once touched his ears, and now he could hear for the first time in his life.
As I began to think on these things, I began to think about how God reaches out to the lives of men and women to get them to a place of surrender.
* To get them to a place where they are not just thinking of the now, but of eternity. It’s been shared that we are all eternity bound people. One day, all of us will have to give an account for what we have done in this life.
The bible says in Romans: For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
I began to think about what Jesus had done for me. I can only tell you about my experience. In my minds eye, I was there when He was:
* Hanging on the cross
* Ridiculed and scorned
* Spit upon him and mocked him
In order to have an experience with Him, you got to go there by faith.
* You have to interject yourself in the picture (twilight zone, pic changing)
*
You have to experience him yourself.
I. The bible says in verse 35 of Luke ch. 23 “And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided (mocked or ridiculed) him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.”
-Jesus endured the ridicule, he endured the mockings.
When you mock someone, you mimic them. Even the rulers or those in high positions in the church mocked Him. But Jesus didn’t come down. He said “ Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”.
-Jesus remembered that he came to deliver men and women from their sin.
-Just like Jesus remembered, remember back upon the time when Jesus delivered you. It doesn’t matter if your:
Saved or unsaved
Saint or sinner
Believer or unbeliever
Good or bad
Teenager or adult
Jesus has delivered each one of us one time or another. You may not have thought it was God, but think about it…would the devil deliver you out of the hands of the slayer?? The bible says he’s come to steal, kill and to destroy.
-remember back through all the times when you know you should have been doing right and you wasn’t, but Jesus.
-remember when you were at your lowest and you didn’t know where to turn, but you prayed and Jesus sent somebody your way.
-remember when the food was low and the rent was due, and you had just enough gas to get to work, let alone church, but you believed God. In all these things, he may not have been there when you wanted Him, but as the song said he was right on time.
II. Jesus wants us to remember him.
Ec. 12:1 says “Remember now, thy Creator in the days of thy youth”.
-He says NOW!!
Not tomorrow
Not when you get old
Not when you need something, But NOW!!
Today!!!
This second!!
This minute!! That word remember means to “recognize or recall that which was hidden”.
-can anyone here recognize a man by the name of Theodore Donald if he walked up those steps?? NO, because you never have met him.
-can anybody recall the last time it rained in Beijing, China? NO, because you have to have some information or news about the weather there.
It’s the same thing with Jesus. In order to know Him, one has to meet Him, and when you meet Him, you won’t forget Him.
-you can stay out of church for years but Jesus always has a way to put us in remembrance of Him:
Billboards about Christ.
Someone you work with is a christian
A saved momma or grandmamma
Someone inviting you to church
Jesus not only wants us to remember Him, he wants us to know Him.
Peter said But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
-you know it’s not all about us!!!
My way
My wants
My life
Jesus thought more about others then he did about himself.
Phillipians 2:5 “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. HOW DID JESUS THINK???
Jesus walked or lived not for or after the flesh, but after the Spirit. In other words, when someone gets genuinely saved, God moves upon their spirit to be more like Him. You may not change overnight, but we change as we yield our spirit to His Spirit and His Word.
-the bible says to draw nigh (near) unto God and he will draw near unto us. We get closer or nearer to God by:
* Reading his Word
* Coming to church
* Prayer
* Soulwinning
* Preaching
That’s why Jesus told Nicodemus you must be born again.(John ch. 3). God changes us inwardly.
-no doubt, he remembered Christ’s life, how he forgave this one or healed that one. That’s how I got saved!! I remembered those whose life had been changed by the one who gives life. I remembered:
* My best friend who got saved right after high school.
Recall that person whom God is wanting you to remember!!!! Remember how He changed their life??
Remember how Jesus said I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Remember when he said “I stand at the door, and knock; if any man (mankind) hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me”. Do you hear His voice this today???
Close: (How I got lost in the store when I was 7). I thought my mom had forgotten about me in the store.
My mom was a mom not only in the store, but wherever we were:
At home
At church
When I got a whippin’…she was still my mom.
And Jesus is the same, regardless of where were at. Lets remember Jesus, not only in the church, but outside the doors of the church.
There was a sign above the door of this one church, it said, ENTER TO WORSHIP, LEAVE TO SERVE.
Remember Him today!
