The Importance of Remembering

[0:00] Well, when I visit my parents' house in Fishhook, one of the things I often like to do is look at old family photos. My mom has this shoebox filled with old photos.

[0:12] And every now and again, I just like to open it up and look through these memories again. Even though I've seen these photos dozens of times before, it's still special, isn't it, to look at these old family photos we have because it triggers memories.

[0:28] And there's something important about remembering where we're from. But also there's something important about having triggers, having photos or items or things that when you look at them, they cause you to think back.

[0:43] They trigger memories. They reawaken times in the past. Well, we're looking through the book of Exodus and we've been journeying with these Israelites in Egypt and the experiences they went through.

[0:59] And what we're reading in Exodus is really the formative events of the nation of Israel. But what stands out in the chapters where we find ourselves today, which is, you know, chapter 12 and 13, but right from chapter 11, as we come to this final plague in the beginning of this great Exodus from Egypt, what strikes me as I read these chapters is how much God wants Israel to remember these things that have happened way after they happen.

[1:32] And he establishes for them and he commands them to keep certain feasts and ceremonies that aren't their idea. It's actually God's idea for these feasts and ceremonies because God wants them way into the future to have triggers that they can experience to look back and think back to where they came from.

[1:54] The events that brought them out of Egypt and defined them as a nation. It's very important for them to remember. And that's what I really want us to think about this morning.

[2:05] The importance of remembering and how God actually wants his people to deliberately and regularly remember certain things.

[2:16] So this morning, what we're going to do is we're going to we're going to look at what it was that Israel needed to remember. Just what historical events were so important that they remembered.

[2:27] Then what triggers God provided for them as means to think back and remember these things. And then I want to look at, well, why?

[2:38] Why was it so important that they remembered these things? Because it's important to remember, not just for them, but for God's people in every age, to have ways to deliberately remember and reawaken in our minds.

[2:55] Just where we've come from. And so let's have a look and see what we learn from these chapters. Firstly, what Israel had to remember? What is it that happened in history that was so important for them to memorialize in the future?

[3:10] Well, if you've been with us, you'll know that we're now in the final plague. The 10th and most fatal plague of them all.

[3:21] It's the culmination really of all the plagues, which up until now have just been warnings to this final plague. And it is quite shocking and quite sobering because we in this plague are reminded that the God who gives life can just as easily take it away.

[3:41] And he has every right to do it. As we see the events of the firstborn being killed in every household, God's judgment over Egypt wasn't to kill everyone, which he had every right to do, but to kill the firstborn in every household.

[3:56] And this was his judgment on Pharaoh and the Egyptians after many, many warnings for still refusing to let the Israelites, who were their slaves, free.

[4:07] And this judgment was shocking, but it was also absolute. There was no escaping it. Just have a look at chapter 12 and the end of verse 30.

[4:18] There was a loud wailing throughout Egypt because there wasn't a house without someone dead. Literally, that says there was not a house where there was not one dead.

[4:35] And that, if you think about it, is true even for the Israelite houses. But in their case, the dead one was not the firstborn child. It was the lamb that we saw last week was allowed to be a substitute for God's people so that they didn't undergo the judgment on the firstborn in the land of Egypt.

[4:54] This is the famous Passover that we saw last week where God provided safety from his judgment for his people by a substitution. A very key, important idea that then carries through to the rest of Scripture.

[5:09] But what's important to realize now, where there was not a house, where there was not one dead in all the land of Egypt, was that God's judgment here was inescapable.

[5:20] No one was untouched by it. And that's why there was this wailing throughout the land. You can just imagine the scene. It's very heavy. But in the darkness of this judgment that God laid upon the nation of Israel, there's also the light of his provision to his own people.

[5:42] That they escaped it. That they were spared from it. In this Passover lamb. But then as we read on in the story, we see that's not all God provided for them.

[5:53] Have a look from verse 33 as the actual narrative progresses. Now the Egyptians pressured the people in order to send them quickly out of the country.

[6:04] For they said, we're all going to die. So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped up in their clothes on their shoulders. The Israelites acted on Moses' word and asked the Egyptians for silver and gold items and for clothing.

[6:21] And the Lord gave the people such favor with the Egyptians that they gave them what they requested. In this way, they plundered the Egyptians. The Israelites traveled from Ramesses to Sukkoth, about 600,000 able-bodied men on foot besides their families.

[6:38] And so the most famous migration in history begins. And it is rapid and it is chaotic.

[6:50] I mean, just picture it. The numbers of people leaving all at once. 600,000 men besides their families. So this is well over a million people. And that's just the people, not including all the animals because they were shepherds.

[7:03] So they've got all these flocks of cattle and lambs and stuff bringing with them. And all the bags and all the trailers and the wagons. It must have been crazy to see all these people getting up and leaving all at once.

[7:19] And it was so kind of sudden and unexpected. This was the window of opportunity they had to leave. So they had to take it before Pharaoh changed his mind. And the Egyptians wanted them out. It was so sudden that they didn't even have time to prepare food.

[7:32] And did you notice that that was quite a point that was mentioned? And not just here. Israel's lack of time to prepare food, which just highlights how quickly and suddenly they had to leave Egypt.

[7:45] And yet despite that, despite the fact that they couldn't even have time to prepare provisions for the journey, God richly provided for them through this famous plundering of the Egyptians is what it's known as.

[8:00] And it's a strange term because plundering normally means when a hostile army attacks a weaker nation to take all their wealth.

[8:10] But this was actually the other way around. This was the hostile Egypt, the most powerful and richest nation of the world at the time, being plundered by the weaker nation of slaves that they didn't even like because God moved this rich nation to give their riches to this group of slaves.

[8:30] It was an amazing event. And it's not normal behavior. I don't know about you, but that's not normally what I do when I hear my neighbors leaving for overseas, especially if he's an irritating neighbor and I don't really like him and I'm quite happy for him to leave.

[8:44] I don't give him all my jewelry and my wedding rings and the keys to my car and my safe and everything, right? That's not what you normally do with people. And yet the Egyptians, who didn't even like the Israelites, did it for them because God was using the Egyptians to provide for his people.

[9:01] And what's interesting about this is that God was providing for his people things that they needed that they didn't even know they were going to need. Because this silver and gold wasn't given to them just to, you know, make them pretty on their journey in the wilderness.

[9:17] They needed to build the tabernacle. A number of chapters later, God commanded them to build this important holy tabernacle, which is going to be the home for the ark where the Ten Commandments were.

[9:30] We'll learn about that later. But the trimmings and the decorations of the tabernacle that God commanded were all to be out of gold and silver. Now, how can a group of refugees in the middle of the deserts get gold and silver for themselves to do what God commanded?

[9:45] Well, it's through the plundering of the Egyptians. It's through God providing this gold and silver for them just before they left Egypt to give them what they needed for something they needed to do that they didn't even yet know they needed to do.

[9:59] So they were probably just getting all this jewelry and going, Woohoo, this is awesome. I'm going to look so good. But later on, we see why they needed it. And this really tells us something about God, doesn't it? Because what's happening here in the story is that God is calling a group of people out of Egypt, out of life in the world, to a special purpose through the wilderness and eventually into the land, the promised land.

[10:23] And they were called to do certain things for God. They were called to fulfill God's purposes on earth. And when God calls a group of people to his purposes, he also, at the same time, provides them with everything they need to fulfill the mission he's given them, even before they know they need it.

[10:45] And it's not just then. It's how God works throughout history. And you may have even experienced this in your own life, how God, when he calls people to a particular task, he gives them everything they need for that task, even before they know that they need it.

[11:02] And we see that happening here in the Exodus. And as we read this account, it's clear that this is no ordinary nation. This is no, like, ordinary group of people leaving another nation to go and settle somewhere else.

[11:18] Obviously, settlements and exoduses have happened throughout history. But this one stands apart because this is a group of people uniquely for whom God has a purpose.

[11:30] And God is intervening in history to perfectly provide for that purpose. So that's why this Exodus is unique. That's why of all the different migrations and people group movements that have happened throughout history, this one's recorded in the Bible for us.

[11:46] Because this is the nation of people through whom God was going to carry out his plans for the world. And in doing that, he is perfectly providing for them every step of the way.

[11:58] And that is why it is vital they never forgot these events. And why God gave them ways and triggers to keep remembering these events and where they were from, lest they ever forget.

[12:12] Because we'll see later, it was vital for them never to forget these formative events in leaving Egypt. But before we look at just why they needed the reminder, let's look at how God actually gave them triggers to remember these things way into the future.

[12:30] So even before the events, just look back a few verses in chapter 12 from verse 24. This is Moses, but giving God's commands to the people.

[12:43] And he's saying from verse 24, keep this command permanently as a statute for you and your descendants. When you enter the land that the Lord will give you, as he promised, you are to observe this ceremony.

[12:56] He's talking about the Passover meal that we read about earlier last week. And the Passover meal was to be a constant annual ceremony for the Israelite people to remember what happened.

[13:11] It goes on from verse 26. When your children ask you, what does this ceremony mean to you? You are to reply, it is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord.

[13:23] For he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians and spared our homes. So you see what God is doing here in providing this ceremony.

[13:35] He's giving the Israelites family photos to look through every year to reawaken and re-experience the Passover and the Exodus.

[13:48] They didn't have cameras, by the way. You probably know that back then. And so this was the way that they had memories through these ceremonies, through these meals, where each element of the meal had a particular symbolic significance, which triggered memories and remembrances of what happened here in Egypt.

[14:09] But that wasn't all. God didn't want them only to remember the Passover itself, but also the experience of leaving Egypt. You know, we just read about it.

[14:20] When they left in such haste, they had no time even to bake bread. And yet they left with God's provision for them. And so he also tells them to establish a ceremony to remember their departure of Egypt.

[14:34] Have a look from chapter 13, verse 3. Then Moses said to the people, Remember this day when you came out of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

[14:45] For the Lord brought you out of here by the strength of his hand. Nothing leavened may be eaten. Today in the month of Abib you are going out, when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers that he would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey.

[15:05] You must carry out this ceremony in this month. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. And on the seventh day there is to be a festival to the Lord.

[15:17] Unleavened bread is to be eaten for those seven days. Nothing leavened may be found among you, and no yeast may be found among you in all your territory. On that day, explain to your son, This is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.

[15:33] Let it serve as a sign for you on your head, and as a reminder on your forehead, so that the Lord's instruction may be in your mouth. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with a strong hand.

[15:46] Keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year. So this was the way that God wanted them to remember their departure from Egypt and his provision of them, what he did for them when they left.

[16:00] Despite the chaos of leaving and their lack of provisions, the festival of unleavened bread was meant to remind them and cause them to re-experience the departure of Israel from Egypt.

[16:14] And just in case that wasn't enough, there was another way that God wanted them to remember, not just the Passover and not just their departure from Egypt, but also the substitute, the lamb that saved their firstborn sons in another regular ceremony.

[16:32] So you see that from verse 11. When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to your fathers and gives it to you, you are to present the Lord every firstborn male of the womb, all firstborn offspring of livestock you own, that are males will be the Lord's.

[16:49] You must redeem every firstborn of a donkey with a flock animal, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. However, you must redeem every firstborn among your sons. In the future, when your son asks you, what does this mean?

[17:03] Say to him, by the strength of his hand, the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of humans and the firstborn of livestock.

[17:19] That is why I sacrifice to the Lord all the firstborn of the womb that are males, but I redeem the firstborn of my sons. So let it be a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead, for the Lord brought us out of Egypt by the strength of his hand.

[17:37] And so here, it's just a list of ceremonies, meals, ways that the Israelites were to remember these things. And these ceremonies, these laws that were implemented, that we read about in Leviticus and the Old Testament books, you know, you read about these old ceremonies, and you think, oh, these old stuffy laws, but there was a reason for them.

[18:00] And the reason we see here was to act as triggers, to act as family photos. That's primarily the reason for all these ceremonies and laws. And the point is that God wanted Israel to make sure they had these regular, deliberate methods to remember where they came from.

[18:17] But now why? Why was God so insistent on this? Why was remembering their history in these ways so important? Well, I mean, besides the fact that we're naturally forgetful, right?

[18:32] Humans. I mean, I don't know about you, but I don't know what I did last week, let alone years ago. So we naturally forget things, but, and that's one reason we need memories.

[18:44] But there's a deeper reason here. And this is kind of what it comes down to, that we learn in this passage, and elsewhere in Scripture. And it's this.

[18:55] God's people can't be who they're called to be in the present, unless they regularly remember the past. Let me say that again. God's people can't be who they're called to be in the present, unless they regularly remember the past, and how they became God's people.

[19:13] We see this, for example, in Psalm 78. Turn in your Bible to Psalm 78, and look at these words. Psalm 78 tells us why it's so important to make these memories for God's people.

[19:29] And it starts in the first few verses. If you read them, I will declare wise sayings, verse 2, I will speak mysteries from the past, things we have heard and known, that our fathers have passed down from us.

[19:40] We will not hide them from our children, but we will tell a future generation. So this is a psalm that highlights the importance of remembering things. And then, if you read from verse 5, we see why.

[19:54] He established a testimony in Jacob, talking about God. He established a testimony in Jacob. He set up a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach their children. Again, these laws of Israel were for the sake of triggering memories.

[20:09] Verse 6, So that a future generation, children yet to be born, might know they were to rise and tell their children. Now, verse 7 tells us why. So that they might put their confidence in God, and not forget God's works, but keep His commands.

[20:28] So that they might put their confidence in God. You see, if the Israelites didn't remember the strong hand with which God intervened to bring them out of slavery and provide for them, they would never have had the confidence to go forward with the mission that He's called them to.

[20:46] And we see this in the very next few verses of Psalm 78, an example of when this didn't happen. So, from verse 9, The Ephraimite archers turned back.

[20:58] Now, we don't know exactly what historical event this is referring to, but it's obviously a group of the people of Israel who we see in a few verses abandoned the covenant.

[21:09] It says, from verse 9, They turned back on the day of battle. They did not keep God's covenant, and they refused to live by His law. So this was a group of God's people who had fallen away from His covenant requirements, from the purpose that He had brought Israel and was carrying them forward.

[21:28] This group had turned back and said, No, that's not for us. But why? Why did they turn around? Why did they fall away? Well, look at verse 11 of Psalm 78. Because they forgot what He had done.

[21:42] The wondrous works He had shown them. They forgot. They forgot what happened in the past. So they couldn't, they didn't have the confidence to go forward and carry on the mission, trusting God that He would provide and preserve them.

[21:58] I don't know if you've ever bungee jumped, right? I mean, I think it's crazy. I would never jump down a bridge, even if I had a big bungee cord attached to me.

[22:09] Some people love it. But I've watched people bungee jump. And one of the things I notice is how interested they are when the assistant, the person who's setting them up, secures the rope to their legs, secures that bungee cord to their legs with these harnesses and braces and stuff.

[22:26] You'll know if you've ever bungee jumped, that there's quite a process before to make sure that this thing's secured. And the person who's jumping really is quite interested in making sure that they're secured, watching this whole process take place.

[22:40] And then they get ready to go and they've got this harness on and they go to the edge of the bridge and they look down and the assistant is telling them to wait and get ready and they're psyching themselves up.

[22:52] Now, imagine that they had a total memory loss at that moment and they forgot what happened a few minutes before where they were secured by this bungee assistant.

[23:04] Now, if they forgot what happened, them being secured, they would never go ahead with a jump. Who would ever jump down a bridge unless they were suicidal? And you're never going to bungee jump if you don't remember how you were secured, right?

[23:18] Well, in the same way, Israel were never going to step out and do the mission they were called to do if they forgot how they were secured by God. If they forgot how they were initially provided for by God and secured by Him.

[23:32] If they don't remember that, they'll never go forward. And that concept is not just for the Israelites thousands of years ago. It's for God's people in every age and it's for us today, Christians today.

[23:43] It's exactly the same. The importance of us remembering how we were secured so we can carry on going forward in the lives God has called us to live. That's why I want us to now think about how Christians are to remember and what the Bible says about how we also need a regular remembrance of our history.

[24:04] Our history, by the way, if we're Christians, is not the history of the Africans or the history of the Europeans or the history of the Zulu Empire or the history of colonialism.

[24:16] That's not our history anymore. If we've come under the Messiah of Israel, come under Christ as our Lord, we've changed allegiances, we've changed nationalities and we're Christ's people now, which means our history starts here in Genesis and Exodus.

[24:30] It's covenant history. We share history with the Israelites. That's our true history. And we also need regular remembrances of what has happened in our history, not the history of European expansion or the history of colonization, as I said, but the history of the covenant, the history of God's people.

[24:52] We need to know that history so we remember who we are on a regular basis and we can go forward living the lives that we're called to live. Look at what Peter writes in 2 Peter to a bunch of early believers.

[25:07] He says this from 2 Peter 1, from verse 3. His divine power, that's God's divine power, obviously, has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.

[25:25] By these He has given us very great and precious promises so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire.

[25:38] For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love.

[25:52] For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. What he's describing here is the life that God has called His people to today.

[26:06] What God has saved them out of the world to do and to follow Christ and to live new lives. This is how we carry forward God's mission in the world.

[26:16] But, Peter goes on in verse 9, look what he says, the person who lacks these things, in other words, is not carrying forward God's mission in the world, is blind and short-sighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins.

[26:34] You see, if we forget the past, we stop being who we should be in the present. And that's exactly, by the way, why Peter writes in verse 12, a few verses later, Therefore, I will always remind you of these things even though you know them.

[26:52] I will always remind you of these things even though you know them. Just because you know something doesn't mean you don't need to remember it. Let me say that again. Just because you know something doesn't mean you don't need to remember it.

[27:07] It's why we listen to sermons as Christians. We don't listen to sermons primarily to learn something new. Because maybe, you know, when you're a new Christian, everything you hear from the preacher is something new and it's amazing and you're learning all these new things.

[27:20] But then as you progress in the Christian life, there's fewer and fewer new things that you learn. But you've got to remember the benefit of a sermon to you is not based on how much you've learned from it new, but mostly sermons, teaching of the Bible, opening the Bible together as Christians, reading it, learning about it, is to trigger in our mind things we already know but we still need to be reminded of over and over again because we forget.

[27:48] That's what we should be looking for when we sit under sermons. If we learn something new, great. But the primary purpose is actually not to teach us something new but to remind us of things we already know because we need to be reminded of them over and over again so that we don't get caught up week by week in the stresses and pressures of the world and we end up forgetting what we've been called to because we have something to remember that is far greater than Israel ever had.

[28:17] In fact, it's what all their ceremonies pointed towards. The moment that God intervened in the history of the world like never before by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to rescue us from the ultimate slavery, slavery to sin and death, by being the true Passover Lamb, the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb.

[28:40] Because when God's judgment does finally come down to this earth to clean up this world and remove from it everything that does not belong in God's world, there's going to be no escape for sinners.

[28:53] It's going to be absolute. God's judgment in Egypt and the absolute nature of that was just a foreshadowing and a small trailer of what His ultimate judgment is going to be like.

[29:05] There'll be no escape but there will be a substitute because of what Jesus did already. in history when He came and took on the sins of His people and died and took the punishment for their sins so that they don't have to take that punishment on the day of judgment but that they can go free.

[29:22] And that event, when Jesus came down and fulfilled that Passover for His people, that event defines us. That event, as we look back on it, deliberately remember it, that reminds us why we were saved.

[29:37] It reminds us that we were called out of this world. That's when our life began. And so, that drives us to live the lives we were saved, to live with confidence that as we go forward, we will have everything we need.

[29:53] As the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8, verse 32, He who did not even spare His own Son but offered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him grant us all things?

[30:08] You see, if God gave us His own Son, why do we think He's not going to give us everything else we need to carry out the lives that He's called us out of the world to live?

[30:19] That's why Jesus says in Matthew 6, verse 33, Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things, all these things you need will be provided for you.

[30:33] And this is a promise that just as God has called His people out of the world and saved them through Christ, and as they follow Christ, He will just as much provide them everything they need to live the lives He's called them to live.

[30:46] Material things, just like He did the Israelites when they were coming out of Egypt. And that confidence, knowing, looking back on God's provision, perfect provision for His people, will allow us to go forward.

[31:01] And only that, only when we remember those things, will we be able to look forward and actually still live the lives that He's called us to live without being distracted by the needs and the pressures of life.

[31:12] Jesus says in Matthew 6, don't, you know, the pagans run after these things. People who are not in God's covenant, that's what takes their mind, that's what fills their thoughts, is the provision, providing for themselves.

[31:22] But you don't need these things, because God is going to provide. He's called you out of the world for a different purpose other than just providing for your own needs. He's called you for a bigger purpose and He is now your provider.

[31:35] But to have that confidence, you see, to allow us to go forward, we need to be as intentional to remember these truths as the Israelites were. Because just like them, we can forget God's strong hand that saves and provides for His people when the pressures of life crowd in.

[31:55] And so how do we do this? In the normal course of life, how do we make remembrances of these things, triggers that cause us to think back to God's perfect provision for us? Well, not unlike the Israelites, with ceremonies and special times.

[32:12] You know, we, in our modern age, I think we, we look down on ceremony and we think it's all stuffy and old-fashioned. But ceremony is important because it, it gives us space in our minds to think about things we wouldn't have otherwise thought about and remember things we wouldn't have otherwise remembered.

[32:30] In fact, the church in history, hundreds of years ago, took this very seriously and were much better at it actually than we are today. They had whole ecclesiastical calendars.

[32:41] You know, a few centuries ago, the Anglican Church, they really took their ecclesiastical calendar seriously through any time of the year you were in a particular season which you were remembering particular aspects of, of the gospel, of salvation.

[32:57] And you would have particular feasts throughout the year to remember different things. Now, these weren't laws to keep in order to be saved, like people think they wrongly think of them and therefore write them off.

[33:09] They were means of remembering because remembering is so important. They were triggers for memory of certain aspects of the gospel. And this was very important in the early church.

[33:20] Sadly, it's not so important now. You know, we dismiss ceremony, we dismiss tradition. Oh, I've got my Bible, I've got my reading plan from my Bible app, I'll remember all the important things I need to remember.

[33:32] But you actually won't because it's much easier for these truths to leave your mind than you think when the present crowds in. I mean, these people, hundreds of years ago, their lives were far less distracting than ours are today and yet they knew they needed regular remembrances.

[33:48] How much more do we? And that's why, as one author puts it, I was reading a book on this idea of Christian remembrance and as one author puts it, we need to plan our lives in such a way to create an oasis of remembrance.

[34:04] These set times where we deliberately set aside time and brain space to remember aspects of our salvation and our provision by God so that we can be recharged and keep living the lives he's called us to.

[34:20] That's why the picture of an oasis is a good one. You know, an oasis in the desert is a place where you've been trundling along in your journey and you're hot and you're running out of energy and it's easy to get distracted and then you see an oasis and it's a place where you stop and you rest from your journey and you recharge because only a regular deliberate remembrance of what God has done for us will keep us going forward.

[34:49] That is our rest and our recharge and that's how we should at least see Sunday which is still the kind of ecclesiastical calendar we keep once a week at least to set aside a day where we make this oasis of remembrance to remember who we are through songs through prayers through hearing the word through fellowship with other Christians and that that's of course should be a non-negotiable and primary way we create this brain space to think back on our salvation on a regular basis but we should also that shouldn't be the only oasis of remembrance we have in our lives we should also create oases of remembrance at our in our home too in our weekly life with our children especially parents in fact did you notice in Exodus where God is commanding these remembrances how how important he says it is that you pass these things on to your children have a look again chapter 13

[35:52] Exodus 13 verse 8 this is just some of the examples of this he says on that day explain to your son this is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt it's a family oasis where they're stopping and they're looking back on their history where they came from verse 14 in the future when your son asks you what does this mean say to him by the strength of his hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt out of the place of slavery see it was vital that the Israelites taught their children how they were saved so that they know who they are and where they come from and what they were saved for how much more is that vital in today's world where children are so confused about their identity to remind them who they remind Christian children who they are what God has called them to the life and the eternity that God has called them to and that is primarily the job of fathers to give their children their true identity as Ephesians 6 verse 4 says fathers bring your children up in the training and the instruction of the Lord and that is how we create oases of remembrance in our lives in our families by stopping and remembering the gospel deliberately together those are the family photos that should be the most important ones but then finally we remember our history by thinking deliberately and deeply about the moment that defines who we are by celebrating the true

[37:24] Passover meal the Lord's Supper which Jesus made a point of commanding us to celebrate on a regular basis and it's so important and it has been for 2000 years in the Christian life because it's like looking at family photos when we stop when we look at the bread and the wine when we ingest these things when we take them and we're reliving the event that defines us looking at family photos and you know when I am at my parents house and I look at the family photos I don't look at those photos because I don't know what they contain but I look at them to remind me once again and create that space in my head where I think back triggers memories back to where I've come from and it's the same with communion we don't do it because we don't know the gospel we don't remember the gospel through communion because we don't know it but we take communion to create an oasis of remembrance in our minds to take the time to see it again and remember where we're from again because that's the refreshment we need on a regular basis to keep going forward to remember

[38:36] God's perfect provision for us in his son and how he will give us all things and that's why Jesus commanded that we share this meal regularly not just you know think about the gospel when it comes to us but to come and drink this oasis of remembrance so that as we look back to that moment and what it reminds us about God's perfect provision for our greatest need we can not only remember who we are but we can look forward knowing that he who did not even spare his own son but offered him up for us all how will he not also with him give us all things well I'm going to lead us now in a prayer as we prepare to enter this oasis of communion together