Remember to not Remember

REMEMBER TO NOT REMEMER
HEBREWS 10:3, 17

But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin every year. [17] Then he adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more."

In the name of Jesus:
Tonight is a night of remembering. It really has always been that way. This is a night in which the Church, for almost all of time, has remembered and given thanks. It is a night that has been set aside, commanded by God, that His people remember what He, God, has done to save His people.
In the Old Testament times, this was a night to remember the Passover. The Passover was the great saving acts of God for the people of Israel. History shows, in the book of Genesis, that God had preserved His children, the children and family of Jacob, by having Joseph, one of Jacob’s sons, appointed as a leader in the nation of Egypt. Joseph was an interpreter of dreams, and he interpreted many dreams. God revealed to him that there would be a great famine that would spread throughout the region. First, there would be seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine. Pharaoh, when he heard of Joseph’s ability to interpret dreams, asked Joseph what his dream meant. Joseph revealed the coming years of plenty and of famine, so he was appointed as one who was to prepare for the famine. In the course of time, Jacob and his family came to Egypt, to be provided for, and there they stayed. They grew to be a numerous people, a great and might people, so much so that a new Pharaoh feared the Hebrews and enslaved them.
God’s people were slaves in a foreign land. God sent Moses to speak to Pharaoh, saying “Let My people go.” But Pharaoh would not listen. His heart was hardened until the Passover. The great, last plaque, tenth in all, where the firstborn in all of the land would be put to death by the Lord God. However, whoever placed his faith in God and sacrificed a lamb, placing the blood of the lamb on the doorpost, that household would be spared, or in other words, the angel of death would pass over that place. The family inside was instructed to remember this night with a special meal, a meal made and ate in haste, for on this night, the night of the Passover, God had saved His people, freeing them from slavery, so that they could live freely in a land where God would lead them. And so this was a night to remember, a night to celebrate God’s salvation. The Jews even to this day remember this event, the Passover, and still tell the story and celebrate God’s mighty acts.
Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, instructed His disciples to prepare a room where He would be able to celebrate the Passover with them for a final time. On this night, the Passover meal was eaten, the story was retold, and God’s saving acts were celebrated. It was seemingly no different than any other Passover that had been celebrated.
But, the Scriptures say, that on the night when Jesus was betrayed, He took bread and broke it, then gave it to His disciples saying: Take and eat, this is My body, which is given for you. And in the same way He took the cup after supper, and when He had given thanks He blessed it and said, Take and drink, all of you, this is My blood of the New Covenant, which has been shed for you for the forgiveness of all of your sins. Do this, Jesus, said, as often as you eat and drink of it, do it, Jesus said, in remembrance of Me.
Tonight is a night we remember. We remember that we are a people who are enslaved, enslaved to sin. We have been conceived and born into sin, we are by nature sinful creatures, we and the entire human race are an enslaved people. We are enslaved and we can’t free ourselves.
And so we remember not only our sinfulness but also the Passover Lamb that God has provided. Jesus is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. This Jesus has done, for He is the true God who has come down from heaven, to free those who are in bondage to sin, Satan and death. Jesus has freed us, by buying sinners back, not with silver or gold, but with His own innocently led life, His suffering, His bloody death on the cross, and His rising again to life on Easter morn. Jesus was crucified for our sins and raised again that we might be called children of God!
In Baptism God has washed away your sins and have placed the mark of Christ on the doorpost of your heart. In your Baptism you were marked with the sign of the cross both upon your forehead and your heart, to signify that you have been named a child of God for the sake of Jesus Christ. In Baptism, God has guaranteed your salvation by giving you a saving faith in Christ by the power of His Spirit. Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved. And you have been saved, by a free gift of God’s grace in Christ through faith in Jesus.
Tonight, we remember what God has done in Christ. And tonight, in keeping with Christ’s command we assemble around His Table to receive the Gift of Himself, in, with, and under the earthly elements of bread and wine. We come in faith, trusting that Christ’s broken body given and shed blood shared in the Lord’s Supper is for our eternal benefit and good. And it is, for Jesus has said so. We come eating and drinking His body and blood to receive once again the forgiveness of our sins, the strengthening of our faith, and the assurance of the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding. We come to the Lord’s Table, remembering the great Sacrifice of Christ, receiving the benefits of His death and resurrection, and proclaiming to all in the participation of this Sacrament the Lord Jesus’ death and resurrection until He comes again.
Make no mistake, Satan and the Old sinful nature, the old Adam within each of us, will seek to remind us of our sinful state. But remember this night, and remember that in this Sacrament, God has chosen not remember your sins. He forgives and forgets yours sins, now and forever. He in Christ has cast your sin as far as the east is from the west. He remembers them no more. He looks at you and He sees His child in Christ, on account of Christ. Remember that God doesn’t remember your sins. You are forgiven! You have been set free! So give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His mercy lasts forever.
Amen