Luke 22:7-20

There are certain things to which we should look back at and remember. Christ’s Death, the death of a loved one.

“The living owe it to those who no longer can speak to tell their story for them.” – Czeslaw Milosz (Polish American Poet)

“Praising what is lost makes the remembrance dear.” – William Shakespeare

Usually we want to forget the death of a loved one. Usually we want to forget how a loved one died. But Jesus says to remember His death. The Death of the Son of God.

Jesus wants His Disciples to Remember His Death.

Everything we have as disciples of Christ Jesus centres around His death. It is central to the Gospel message. There is no gospel without His death. Indeed there is no gospel (Good News) without the resurrection

We are not saved by His life. We are saved by His death.

His death saves us from sin – the rescue we need is Jesus and it only comes through Him.

Defeating sin & death shows us His love for us.

His death gives us a kingdom to look forward to. We struggle with sin everyday but when we finally enter the kingdom of heaven our struggle will be over. Colossians 3:2

His death was an expression of divine grace.

There is no greater gift.

Jesus wants His Disciples to Remember Why He Died

 1.He Died for Our Sins.

1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,

2.He Was Our Substitute.

Isaiah 53:4-5 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities;

upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed.

3.He Paid a Debt We Could Not Pay.

1 Peter 2:24 He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.

Jesus wants His Disciples to Remember How He Died.

(1) Willingly – John 10:11  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep

(2) Meekly – Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed, and He was afflicted,  yet he opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.

Jesus wants His Disciples to Remember His Resurrection

Romans 1:4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

Romans 6:5 For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.

1 Corinthians 15:20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Remembering is not simply the recalling of historical facts. It is a participation in the spiritual realities of the present. We have fellowship with a living Saviour.

We Look Ahead

1 Corinthians 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

The return of Jesus is the blessed hope.

He is coming again.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord.  Therefore encourage one another with these words.

We shall be like Him.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, we are God’s children now and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see Him as He is.

The message for Remembrance Day is the message that lies at the core of our faith.

That death is not the end because Jesus has defeated death.