IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME (Deuteronomy 16:1-3; Luke 22:14-20)

INTRODUCTION:

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church was born in the 2nd Great Awaking of the early 1800s. This awakening came to and through a Presbyterian preacher, Rev. James McGready. He had experienced some revival in churches in in 1790s. He moved to Logan County Kentucky in 1800. When McGready came he brought with him a long tradition known as the Scottish sacrament season, which was still being practiced regularly by Presbyterian congregations.

The sacrament season was conducted over several days, in warm weather months. It included outdoor preaching, large numbers of attendees, who had often traveled long distances, long vigils of prayer, and often dramatic conversion experiences. It was through these types of meetings that God pour out His Spirit on many on the frontier of that day and brought them to experiential faith in Jesus. Several Presbyterian ministers were involved in these meetings and experienced revival.

The Presbyterian Church had a presbytery in that area called Cumberland Presbytery. When conflict arose between the “revival” preachers and the “non-revival” preachers of the Cumberland Presbytery, the Synod of Kentucky disbanded the Cumberland Presbytery. After some time three of the revival preachers felt that God would have them reconstitute Cumberland Presbytery so that they could ordain men to the ministry and continue the work they felt God had called them to. They did, and sought acceptance by the Synod. Synod didn’t receive them so in 1810 they declared themselves as a Presbytery and grew from there.

This is a very brief telling of some of the events that brought about the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination. They emphasized evangelism. They rejected the double predestination that they thought the Westminster Confession taught and eventually developed their own Confession of Faith.

February 1, 2020 Corntassel CP Church Page 1 The point I want to lift up today from this brief history is that our church was born out of sacramental meetings where people sought the Lord. The highlight of their 4 days together was the partaking of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. I want to highlight our meeting today with the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. May the Lord pour out on us a Spirit of revival and renewal. In Luke’s account of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus said “Do this in remembrance of Me.” One of the important functions of the Lord’s Supper is to remind us of Jesus. It is to help us to remember Jesus. “Do this in remembrance of me.”

WHY ARE WE CALLED TO REMEMBER JESUS? You may want to ask, “Why do we need something special to remember Jesus?” Certainly a Christian can’t forget Jesus, can they? It is easy to forget things. Do you ever forget where you put your keys?, Wallet? Checkbook? someone’s name? a birthday or an anniversary? The other day I needed to give my social security number to someone and I couldn’t remember it! Sometimes we need help in remembering things. We are like the story of the 3 old widows who lived together. One sister got up to go to bed, half way up the stairs she stopped and asked "was I going up or was I coming down"

One sister replied with hint of aggravation, "you were going up to bed."

A second sister headed into the kitchen to make herself a sandwich. Once in the kitchen she hollered back to her sister who was still down stairs; "what did I come in here for"

The sister responded again with a trace of irritation, "you went in to make yourself a sandwich" after which she said; "I’m so glad I am not as forgetful as the both of you are" as she knock on the end table.

And then she got up and walked over to the door and said "Who is it?" We forget things and we need help in remembering. God has given us something to help us remember Jesus. He has given us the Lord’s Supper. “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

February 1, 2020 Corntassel CP Church Page 2 This is not unusual for God to do. I was reading in the book of Numbers last Friday and ran across this verse. Numbers 15:38-40 NIV "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. (39) You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. (40) Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. God gives us ways to remember the things that are important. He gave the children of Israel the Passover ceremony to remember how He delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Each year the families were to gather and observe the Passover together. This was an act of remembrance according to God. Deuteronomy 16:3 ESV You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction—for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste— that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. Jesus was observing the Passover with his disciples when he instituted the Lord’s Supper. The relationship of the Passover to the Lord’s Supper is that the Passover celebrates the shadow of the reality of God’s spiritual deliverance from bondage. The deliverance of Israel from the bondage of Egyptian slavery is a type of the ultimate deliverance from the bondage to sin that Christ came to give us. As God gave Israel the ceremony of the Passover Feast to remind them of what He had done for them so He gives us the ceremony of the Lord’s Supper to remind us what He has done for us. “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

WHAT ARE WE TO REMEMBER ABOUT JESUS DURING THE LORD’S SUPPER? What are we to remember about Jesus in the Lord’s Supper? Clearly it is specifically His death for us that we are to remember. Both the bread and the cup point to his death for us. This is what we are to focus on in the Lord’s Supper.

February 1, 2020 Corntassel CP Church Page 3 Let me share a few verses that tell us more pointedly exactly what Jesus accomplished for us in His dying for us. Let’s go to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53:4-6 ESV Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. (5) 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. (6) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. When we partake of communion we are to remember that He bore our sins. He took our chastisement. He became our substitute. Remember that God laid on him the iniquity of us all. When we partake of the Lord’s Supper we are to remember that Jesus became our substitute and took our sins upon Himself. Let’s go to Romans 5 where it is filled with insight into what Christ accomplished for us through His death. Verse 9 says that we have been justified by His Blood Romans 5:9 ESV Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. When we partake of communion we are to remember that through His shed Blood we have been justified. To be justified means that we are declared righteous in God’s sight. This is because of the Great Exchange. Our sins were exchanged for Christ’s righteousness. God put our sins on Christ on the Cross and He put Christ’s righteousness on us as a free gift! Remember this when you partake of communion. Since we are justified through His Blood we are reconciled to God by the death of Christ. This is the teaching of verse 10. Romans 5:10 ESV For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. When we partake of communion we are to remember that because He died for us we are reconciled with God. We are no longer enemies and hostile to God but are His sons and daughters. We are made part of the family of God through the death of Jesus on the Cross. Remember this when you partake of communion.

February 1, 2020 Corntassel CP Church Page 4 There are so many things that we receive freely through his death on the Cross. I can only list some of them: We receive forgiveness: Ephesians 1:7 ESV In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, We receive a clean or purified conscious: Hebrews 9:14 ESV how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. We receive power over Satan: Revelation 12:11 ESV And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. When we partake of communion we are to bring these important things to mind that Jesus grants us when He died in our place. We tend to forget many of these things and just take them for granted, things like: our iniquities were laid on Christ, our justification, i.e. His righteousness was laid on us; our reconciliation to God as part of His family, our forgiveness of all our sins, our conscious are purified, our overcoming power against Satan. All these benefits are ours because of Christ’s death and we are to be reminded of them often. “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

CONCLUSION One more thing we are to remember in the Lord’s Supper. It is Jesus Himself as a Person and that Jesus is here. Jesus is present in our midst and in our hearts through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus in His resurrected Body is at the right hand of the Father in heaven. When Jesus ascended to the Father He sent His Holy Spirit to be with us and in us. It is through the Holy Spirit that Jesus is with us today. When we partake of communion we are to remember that He is here and He is with us and He is in us through faith. This resurrected Jesus who ascended into heaven is coming again. We are to remember Jesus through partaking of the Lord’s Supper until He returns. So, let’s fulfill Jesus’ command this morning where He says, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” Amen? Amen!

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