Sermon Notes
5 November 2006
Morning Worship
MEMORIALS
INTRODUCTION:
b. According to one writer, the first Memorial Day service took place on May 30, 1866, on Belle Isle, a burial ground for Union soldiers at the St. James River, at Richmond, Virginia. The school superintendent and the mayor planned the program of hymns and speeches and had the burial ground decorated with flowers. In 1966, however, the U.S. government proclaimed that Waterloo, New York, was the birthplace of Memorial Day. On May 5, 1865, the people of Waterloo had honored soldiers who had died in the Civil War. It is sometimes called Decoration Day in the South.
But whatever the origin, it is good for people to stop and remember. People have a tendency to forget, and with forgetting comes ingratitude. Such is true as well with spiritual things. Let's think about memorials and the child of God.
I. WHAT DO WE MEAN BY A MEMORIAL?
A. What is a memorial?
1. "Something, such as a monument or holiday, intended to celebrate or honor the memory of a person or an event.
2. A written statement of facts or a petition presented to a legislative body or an executive:
a. Serving as a remembrance of a person or an event; commemorative.
b. Of, relating to, or being in memory" (American Heritage Dictionary)
3. The whole thrust behind a memorial is to keep in memory some person, action, or event that contributed to others in some positive way. It also can keep in memory some terrible event in an effort to help people remember that event.
B. We use memorial in various ways today:
1. We set aside certain days to remember people or events.
2. We have "memorial services" to remember those who have died.
3. We name various ships, highways, buildings, etc. after others to remember their service.
4. We have monuments in cemeteries as memorials for our loved ones.
II. THE OLD TESTAMENT SPOKE OF A NUMBER OF MEMORIALS - A FEW EXAMPLES:
A. The rainbow is a memorial to the promise of the Lord:
1. Genesis 9:12-17
12
And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and
you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13
I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant
between me and the earth.
14
And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow
shall be seen in the cloud:
15
And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every
living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to
destroy all flesh.
16
And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may
remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of
all flesh that is upon the earth.
17
And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have
established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
2. It was a remembrance (memorial) between both God and man. God would
remember that He had promised to never again destroy the earth by water, and
when man saw the remember he would remember the faithfulness of God in His
promise.
B. The Passover was a memorial:
1. Exodus 12:1-14
1
And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying,
2
This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first
month of the year to you.
3
Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of
this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house
of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
4
And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor
next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man
according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
5
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take
it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
6
And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the
whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
7
And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on
the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
8
And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened
bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
9
Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his
head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
10
And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which
remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
11
And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet,
and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD's
passover.
12
For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the
firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods
of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
13
And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and
when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon
you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
14
And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast
to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an
ordinance for ever.
2. The Passover included both a supernatural element and a memorial:
a. The first one would be supernatural in that when the Lord came through
Egypt He would kill the first born of every household, except those who had
kept the Passover and placed the blood on the doorpost for God to see.
b. It would be a memorial in that the children of Israel would keep it each
year and remember the first one in which God delivered them from slavery in
Egypt. Each generation would remember that God could deliver them from
anything, provided they remained faithful.
C. The tribes of Israel setting up a memorial to God when they crossed the
Jordan:
1. Joshua 4:4-7
4
Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of
Israel, out of every tribe a man:
5
And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the LORD your God
into the midst of Jordan, and take you up every man of you a stone upon his
shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel:
6
That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers
in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?
7
Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the
ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of
Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the
children of Israel for ever.
2. What was this memorial and what was it's purpose?
a. A representative from each of the twelve tribes were to take a stone out
of the Jordan from where the priests crossed over the Jordan on dry land.
There were to then use the stones to make a memorial to God.
b. It’s purpose? Each generation of Israelite after that would see them and
remember that God and, by His awesome power, caused the priests and the
people to cross over the Jordan during flood stage on dry land. Each
generation would see and remember that their God was an awesome God and
fully capable to care for and protect them.
III. THE NEW TESTAMENT SPEAKS OF SOME MEMORIALS, TOO:
A. The woman with the alabaster box:
1. Matthew 26:6-13
6
Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,
7
There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious
ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.
8
But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose
is this waste?
9
For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.
10
When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for
she hath wrought a good work upon me.
11
For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.
12
For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my
burial.
13
Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the
whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a
memorial of her.
2. Jesus said that her act would stand as a memorial to her for as long as
the gospel would be preached.
3. Why did the Lord tell his complaining disciples that her action would
stand as a memorial?
a. Showed a level of faith in the Lord that most of the apostles did not
possess, even though they had been with him far more than her.
b. She showed a sacrificial attitude toward her service for the Lord. She
gave her best!
1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service.
2
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of
your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect,
will of God.
c. There was a multitude of people during Jesus' day, some of which were
good persons, who have died and been forgotten. By her one righteous action
she will be remember until the end of time!
B. The prayers of Cornelius:
1. Acts 10:1-4
1
There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the
band called the Italian band,
2
A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much
alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.
3
He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God
coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.
4
And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he
said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before
God.
2. This was the type of memorial that no one knew about. It was unlike the
prayers of the Pharisees, who prayed to be seen by men
5
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they
love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets,
that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Cornelius' prayers were seen by God and the beautiful thing about his
prayers was that it caused God Himself to remember him.
3. They were the prayers of a man who was diligently seeking God and wanting
to please Him. God saw that and remembered in sending a gospel preacher to
bring the truth to Cornelius.
C. The Lord's Supper:
1. I Corinthians 11:24-25
24
And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my
body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
25
After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This
cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in
remembrance of me.
2. Christians are to remember Jesus when they take the Lord's Supper:
a. We are to look back to the Lord’s death and agony on the cross for us.
b. We are to look forward ("till he comes") to the Lord's return.
c. We are to look to ourselves
28
But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink
of that cup.
d. We remember that Jesus cleansed our sins in his blood
7
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of his grace;
28
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which
the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he
hath purchased with his own blood.
e. By doing so we carry out a continual instructive exercise - "You proclaim
the Lord's death"
26
For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's
death till he come.
CONCLUSION:
a. It is wonderful to remember our people who gave their all for our freedom
b. for the child of God it is great to remember our God's great work and
what our Lord did for us on the cross
NOAH,
THE MAN SAVED BY AN ARK
INTRODUCTION:
a. My father would bring sea shells back after hunting trips. This was not
unusual in itself, but was unusual because of where he found those sea
shells. He was not near the ocean, but in Alabama
b. When we think of the great flood we inevitably think of the great
patriarch Noah. He was the only person, aside from his immediate family, who
remain faithful to God and was saved from destruction
I. THE TIMES IN WHICH NOAH LIVED:
A. His family:
1. His was the tenth generation from Adam.
2. His family tree was distinguished. It included:
a. Seth, the replacement son for Abel
25
And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth:
For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain
slew.
b. Enoch, the man who was walked with God and was taken by Him
18
And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch:
c. Methuselah, the oldest man
27
And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and
he died.
B. The condition of Noah's world:
1. It was an extremely sinful age. Since people lived long life spans there
was little to curb the wickedness of the age.
2. Those who served God began to intermarry with the daughters of the
wicked. In all likelihood the descendants of Cain. We know from their
lineage in chapter 4 that they were wicked
And it came to pass, when men
began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto
them,
2
That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they
took them wives of all which they chose.
3
And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he
also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
4
There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the
sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to
them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
3. The mind of man was continually on committing sin and imagining new sins
to commit
5
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
4. Wicked had its normal consequence. Virtually all mankind had become
corrupt and violence was rampant upon the earth
11
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with
violence.
12
And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh
had corrupted his way upon the earth.
5. The situation became so bad that it grieved God that He had even made man
6
And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved
him at his heart.
6. Only Noah and his family had maintained their integrity
1
And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for
thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
II. A LOOK AT NOAH'S CHARACTER:
A. About his lifestyle:
1. He was a holy and godly man
2. Genesis 6:9
"This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect
in his generations. Noah walked with God."
a. The phrase "walked with God" is the same used to describe the
righteousness of Enoch
24
And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
B. About his relationship with God:
1. He was a man of faith
Hebrews
11
2. He was obedient
13
And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the
earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them
with the earth.
14
Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt
pitch it within and without with pitch.
22
Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
3. He was a preacher.
5
And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher
of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
C. About his relationship with his family:
1. Little is know of the details of the relationship that Noah had with his
wife and sons. What is known is that he was able to exert the leadership,
influence, and guidance over them that they were saved along with him in the
ark.
2. Genesis 7:1-7
1
And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for
thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
2
Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his
female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.
3
Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed
alive upon the face of all the earth.
4
For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days
and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy
from off the face of the earth.
5
And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.
6
And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the
earth.
7
And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him,
into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
III. SOME OTHER IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT NOAH:
A. Noah's salvation on the ark did not mean that there would be no sin in
the new world:
1. Not long after the flood we read of Noah planting a vineyard, becoming
drunk, and became naked
20
And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
2. Noah lived for 350 years after the flood
28
And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
B. Two great passages in the New Testament concerning Noah and what they
teach us today:
1.
Matthew 24:37-39
37
But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the
ark,
39
And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the
coming of the Son of man be.
a. Noah and his generation present a picture of how much warning the world
will have for the second coming of Jesus. Contrary to pre-millinialists, the
world will be going on normally, just as it was for Noah's sinful world up
to when they entered to ark and the floods came
2.
I Peter 3:20,21
20
Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited
in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is,
eight souls were saved by water.
21
The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the
putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience
toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
a. Just as the ark saved Noah and his family, so too will the church saved
the child of God.
b. Just as water was a dividing line between the sinful world and salvation
in the flood, so too is water the dividing line between a life of sin and
salvation from past sins
C. Some lessons from Noah's life:
1. It is possible to remain faithful in a sinful world
2. God will not forever tolerate wicked behavior -There is a payment for sin
3. Salvation has always been by faithful obedience
4. God's promises are sure
CONCLUSION:
a. rainbows remind of God's great handiwork in the worldwide flood and that
He promised Noah that He would never again destroy the world with water
b. When we remember Noah we see him coming out of that ark to begin life
fresh. Let us trust God, just as Noah did
