Our New Testament reading is found in Ephesians chapter 2 beginning in verse 11. Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we have both access and one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in him you also being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Father in heaven as we come to your word we pray that your Holy Spirit would open our hearts and minds, forgive my sin and make clear your word in Jesus name, Amen. We already read from the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 5 that we are to observe the Sabbath. And part of the reason to observe the Sabbath is in verse 15 it says, you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt. You shall remember, this is a repeated refrain in the book of Deuteronomy, remember you were a slave as repeated several times, Deuteronomy 1515, Deuteronomy 162, and then in Deuteronomy 24 he says you shall not pervert justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless to take a widow's garments and pledge, but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there, therefore I command you to do this. Then he says when you reap in your harvest field and forget a sheaf in the field you shall not go back to get it, it shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless and the widow, that the Lord God may bless you in all your work of your hands, then when you beat your olive tree you shall not go over them again, it shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless and the widow, when you gather grapes on your vineyard you shall not strip it afterwards, it shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless and the widow. God is telling Israel to care for the fatherless and the sojourner and the widow and the motivation for these things, for doing justice. Is verse 22, you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, therefore I command you to do this. Now you might think okay well this is the Old Testament it applies to Israel but what about us? Well Romans chapter 6 tells us that we were slaves to sin. This is the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, we were slaves to sin. So why does God remind us so often? Because we're forgetful, we're forgetful of his blessings. Seems no matter what we're blessed with, how he overflows our cups, we can always find something or someone to complain about. Another example of that is in Mark chapter 8. Jesus is fed 5,000 and then after an interval of time he fed 4,000 each time with a few fish and loaves. And after he had done this the disciples were arguing with each other or complaining to each other, where are we going to get food? Think about it. Jesus had fed 5,000, he had fed 4,000 with a few fish and loaves and they gathered up baskets full of leftovers and now they're saying how are we going to eat? Jesus said having eyes do you not see, having ears do you not hear and do you not remember? We are prone to forget. Maybe you don't follow it but I noticed that the New York City elections are on Mondami 1 and one of the New York papers on their cover, I think a day or two after the election, was talking about how the New York elected as their mayor a socialist slash communist Muslim who has expressed public anti-Semitism and this New York paper had a picture of the planes going into the two towers and remember every September 11th there's a memorial, there's an outpouring that says never forget and this picture says we forgot because of who they elected. It's important to teach younger people the history of who you are and how you got here and so in Halifax part of how we remember is monuments. The Halifax memorial in Point Pleasant Park consists of a granite cross of sacrifice 12 meters high similar to the design of those in the commission war cemeteries around the world. The cross is mounted on a large granite podium bearing panels of bronze which are inscribed with the names of those whose graves are at sea in World War I and World War II as well. Following the first world war Canada and New Zealand requested the commemoration of their dead lost at sea should be in their respective countries. The original Halifax memorial was built in 1924 and upon it were inscribed the names of 415 sailors all but 41 of the Canadian war dead missing and presumed lost at sea. Now it's 1914, 1918, 1939 and 1945. In the honor of the men and the women of the Navy Army and Merchant Navy of Canada whose names are here inscribed their graves are unknown but their memory shall endure and the question is in Canada does the memory endure? Do we remember from whence we've come? We as a nation along with other nations believe it's appropriate to remember the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we might enjoy the freedoms that they have in part provided. It's important to remember monuments help us to remember the cross of sacrifice in the Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa where so many of Canadians war dead are buried. Ceremonies help us remember. There's a book of remembrance in Memorial Chamber in the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill. Every morning at 11 o'clock the pages of the book of remembrance are turned by a member of the House of Commons Protective Service staff. Commemorations, ceremonies, celebrations, artifacts, monuments. If you read through the Old Testament there's plenty of times where monuments were built, stones were gathered to remember what God had done. All of these help us remember who we are, good and bad, how we got here and to whom we owe gratitude. In everyday life we remember as well. We have birthday celebrations. Now I didn't know until I met the Pecornes that there's something called a name, you have a birth name celebration, it's different for each person. So essentially you get two, you get your birthday and you get your birth name, I hope I'm saying that right. They showed up one day with a bunch of stuff I shouldn't eat because it was my birth name day which I didn't know existed until then. So we have birthdays, we have celebration of anniversaries, don't forget those husbands. Married couples recall their vows, some of them renew their vows, promises made before God and people. These ceremonies and celebrations are ways to remember and while it's important as a nation to remember those who served well and lost their lives in serving, the Christians are as Christians we are called to remember who we were, slaves. What God has done for us, freedom and the many blessings that he's poured out on us. Deuteronomy tells us to remember who we were. Deuteronomy 8 verse 2, you shall remember the whole way that the Lord has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what is in your heart, whether you keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you, so you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. Moses is recounting for the people who they were, slaves, and how God dealt with them before they got into the Promised Land. He says that he humbled you because we are prone to arrogance. He tested you because we are prone to sin. He taught us because we don't live by bread alone. He provided for us by sending us manna from heaven and he disciplines us. Similarly, Paul instructs the Ephesians to remember who they were apart from Christ before they believed the Gospel. Chapter 2, verse 1, he says, you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of the world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit now at work in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all once lived, carrying out the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and we are by nature children of the wrath like the rest of mankind. He goes on to say, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved. Then in verse 11 that we read, therefore remember that one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision which is made by the flesh. Remember that you were at the time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Because of what Christ has done for us if we think about it we have nothing to complain about. Nothing. Paul was beaten, he was shipwrecked, he was beaten again and he called it momentary light affliction because he knew the glory that awaited him. This is who you were, slaves apart from God having no hope in the world. Therefore remember God's blessings in your life especially your salvation. But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off and brought near by the blood of Christ. Looking back at Deuteronomy 8 beginning in verse 7 we see that Moses is telling them about all the blessings they will receive in the promise land. Remember Israel had spent 400 years in slavery to Egypt. They had made bricks and when they complained they were given less straw to make those bricks. They worked, I can't imagine the hours and the day they worked, getting no sleep, getting little food. And yet God multiplied them so great that the Egyptians were afraid they would take over. And then they demanded through Moses to be freed. God brought the ten plagues on Egypt and the ten plagues were plagues against the gods of Egypt. The last one, plague of the firstborn was against the idea that Pharaoh was a god. And if you remember God sent the angel of death throughout Egypt taking the firstborn of every household. And the only way that you could be saved from that was if the blood of a sacrificed lamb was put on the doorposts in the lintel of your home. Then the angel would see the blood and pass over and anybody could have done it. All of Israel was instructed to do it. If any Egyptians did it they would be spared as well. And if any Israelites didn't they wouldn't be spared. And what that tells us is that the only way that we will be saved is by the blood of the lamb. The only way that we will be saved is through the blood of Jesus. There is no other way. Hebrews tells us that there is no other way under heaven and earth by which man must be saved. Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. And in Deuteronomy 8 beginning in verse 7, The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water. Now this, all of this is a prelude, a foreshadowing, a type of the salvation that we have in Christ. The land of brooks and water, verse 3, of fountains and springs flowing out of the valleys and hills. Verse 4, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey. A land, verse 9, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing. A land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. And you shall eat and be full. You shall bless the Lord your God for the good land He has given you. This is a foreshadowing of heaven. And as wonderful as this land was, it pales in comparison to what's promised us in heaven. So you can see that over and over and over again God says, remember, remember, remember who you were, you were slaves. Remember the God who rescued you. The Ten Commandments start with, I'm the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of slavery, out of the house of Egypt. So why don't we remember? What are the hindrances to remembering? Well, one of the hindrances is success and prosperity. Verse 11 of chapter 8, Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His rules and His statutes, which I command you today. Lest when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, prosperity. And when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up. Prosperity is a hindrance to remembering. That's why Jesus says it's easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. So not only does success and prosperity have the tendency to make us forget God, it can also make us forget who we were. Your heart be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Who led you through great and terrifying wildernesses with its fiery serpents and scorpions, thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of a flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna, that your fathers did not know that He might humble you and test you to do you good in the end. So prosperity and success can make us forget. It can make us forget who we are. It can make us put other things ahead of the Lord. I won't list them, but they're a multitude. And it can make us arrogant. Beware lest you say in your heart my power and might and hand have gained me this wealth. Now does this apply to Canada? Pretty well, I think. A couple of years ago I read an article that appeared in several publications listing the 50 most livable cities in the world. Three of the top seven are in Canada. According to them, Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto. Montreal was 19 and Ottawa was somewhere in the middle. Three of the top seven is impressive. How does this apply? Like the Israelites, we can be tempted to believe it's by our own power, our own intellect, our own ingenuity, etc. That Canada has become a great place to live. And in the process, forget God, which by and large I think we have. Done just that. Just like failing to remember the men and women who gave their lives for their nation is dangerous for our future, so is forgetting God and all His blessings on this great land. And along with forgetting God, we forget who we were and how He saved us thus far. As I said, Deuteronomy 8, verse 14, your heart will be lifted up and you will forget your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. In New York, it was 2001 on September 11th, the two towers were hit and over 3,000 people died as a result of Islamic terrorism. Less than 25 years later, their election showed that they forgot. So what's the cure for this arrogance? You shall remember the Lord your God, for it's He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may confirm His covenant that He swore to His fathers, to your fathers, as it is this day. How do we here in Halifax, in Bedford, in Sackville, in Dartmouth, how do we guard against forgetting God? Remember that you were a slave and the Lord God brought you out with a mighty hand, an outstretched arm. Therefore, you're commanded to keep the Sabbath day. Minimally, keeping the Sabbath day is coming to worship, to gather worship. That's minimal. But if you read the Scriptures, if you read our Confession, if you read our Catechisms, there's a lot more to it than that. It is essential to your health and well-being that you attend worship regularly. How else can we remember? Well, we have a book, the Bible, the living Word of God. We're privileged to read and study and memorize and obey. There are places all over the world where Christians don't have access to a Bible. And yet, so many of ours gather dust. How else can we remember? We have Bible studies where we can learn and pray for each other. Another hindrance to remembering is willful ignorance. Not knowing is not caring about your nation's history. Not knowing God's Word is not caring about your standing before Christ. This might not seem like the happiest news, but I promise you it is, because not only are we to remember God, He remembers us. Over and over again in the Old Testament, God remembers His covenant with His people. Exodus 2.24, God hearing their groaning and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. Exodus 6.5, Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel, whom the Egyptians hold a slave, and I have remembered my covenant. Psalm 105, He is the Lord, His judgments are all in all the earth. He remembers His covenant forever, the word that He commanded for a thousand generations, the covenant that He made with Abraham, His sworn promise to Isaac, which He confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to an everlasting covenant. Not only are we called to remember God, we are told He remembers us. One of the most moving passages in all of scripture is when Jesus was on the cross and dying between the two convicted criminals. One of them turned and said, Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom. And He said to Him, truly, truly, I say to you, you will be with me in paradise. Just as significant as what He remembers, it's what He no longer remembers. Hebrews 10.17, their sins and iniquities. I will remember no more. Because Jesus satisfied the justice through our sins. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Let's see.