Our Bible reading is taken from Luke's Gospel chapter 24 and
we're going to read the first 12 verses.
Luke chapter 24 verses one through to 12.
Let's hear the Word of God. The words will come up and
scream for those online. Now upon the first day of the
week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre,
bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others
with them. And they found the stone rolled
away from the sepulchre, and they entered in, and found not
the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they
were much perplexed thereabout, behold, 2 men stood by them in
shining garments. And as they were afraid, and
bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why
seek ye the living among the dead?
He is not here, but has risen. Remember how He speak unto you
when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be
delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified.
And the third day rise again. And they remembered his words,
and returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto
the 11 and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, and
Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were
with them, which told these things unto the apostles, and
their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed
them not. Then arose Peter, and ran unto
the sepulchre, and stooping down, he beheld the linen
clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself
at that which was come to pass. Amen.
We know the Lord will stamp with His own approval and blessing
this reading of His own precious and infallible Word.
Now this is Remembrance Sunday 2025 and this morning, along
with 10s of thousands of other churches throughout the United
Kingdom, we have observed a period of silence and honour and
memory of all who have fought and died in two world wars and
other conflicts since we have stood in silence, we've stood in
solidarity to remember the bravery and sacrifice of those
who've served. We've mentioned the Royal Navy,
the British Army, the Royal Air Force and all the reserve
forces, especially those who fought and died to preserve our
cherished freedoms that we all enjoy today.
We've also remembered the members of the Royal Ulster
Constabulary, all 319 of them, members of the UDR, the PSNI and
all the emergency support staff, and all other innocent victims
of terrorism who paid the supreme sacrifice in the causes
of our freedom, in the cause of truth and righteousness.
Truly they gave their day for our tomorrow and it is right and
proper that we remember them. We have said we will remember
them. Do you know that it is biblical
to remember? The word remember is used 210
times in the Bible. Genesis 8 and one is the first
reference. Revelation 18 and five is the
last The theme of remembrance is used 51 times in the Bible.
Exodus 17 and 14, Revelation 16 and 19.
We can think of the words of the Lord Jesus that the Lord's
Supper this do in remembrance of me.
Now every year on Remembrance Sunday, we have taken up this
theme of remembering. We have called upon you to
remember something. Now, therefore, my text today is
found on the same theme. If you look with me at Luke
chapter 24 verse 8, it says this and they remembered His words.
Here's a short verse, only 5 words, and they remembered His
words. Now our theme today I've
entitled is remembering the Redeemer's words.
Let's remember the context. Devout women coming very early
in the morning to anoint the dead body of the Lord Jesus.
Three days earlier they had witnessed the awful death of
Christ by crucifixion, a most horrible death.
Now upon their rival at the empty tomb, they discovered that
the stone was rolled away. The removal of the stone was
something that was on their lips as they drew near the garden
town and with the stone rolled away from the mouth of the tomb,
they went and looked inside. They discovered the tomb was
empty, the body was not there. They were confused, they were
perplexed, they were troubled. And in that moment 2 angels and
shining garments stood by them. And the angels asked this
question in the midst of their fear, as they bowed their heads
to the earth. Why seek ye the living among the
dead? He said in verse 6, He is not
here, he is risen. And then they added, Remember
how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee?
And here's the words, verse 7, saying the Son of Man must be
delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified.
And the third day, rise again. Now link it into verse 8.
What do we read? What followed?
And they remembered his words. What clarity, what tremendous
comfort and joy flowed and followed when we read and they
remembered his words. And it was a words about the
facts of the Gospel, a simple, yet supernatural and yet
sovereign message. A word about his arrest, his
unjust trial and horrible death by crucifixion, and a word about
his resurrection on the third day.
From the day you see, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ is a glorious truth. It's the bedrock of the
Christian faith. It's really the Waterloo of all
the modernism, liberalism and rationalism of our day.
This is one of the great fundamental doctrines of Bible
belief in Christianity. And here, our holy woman, they
come to that tomb, and they haven't anticipated or thought
about the doctor of the resurrection.
And they come to that tomb in a spirit of mourning, and they're
sad in their heart, and they come with their spaces to anoint
a dead body. And now they're told He is not
here, He has risen. Remember how He speak unto you
when He was yet in Galilee. And when they heard what He
said, we read, and they remembered His words.
I want you to think about that. And they remembered His words.
Think with me of the problem that was experienced under
underline the word remembered. We'll ask the question, what was
the common problem of these dear holy woman that they experience
in their heart and mind? The common problem was this they
were prone to forget the words of the Lord Jesus.
Now picture the sea woman come with her spices to anoint a dead
body. Woman filled with a sense of
mourning, a spirit of weeping. They've got heavy hearts.
They're sad, They're full of doubt.
They're filled with a sense of tragedy that has unfolded
outside the city of Jerusalem. They're on a journey, a literal
journey. And on that journey, their
hearts and minds are not filled with the words of the Lord
Jesus. On this journey they have not
anticipated or expected the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. And when their discovered the
tomb is empty, they're directed to what?
By the angels? And what does the Angel say?
Remember how he speak unto you when he was yet in Galilee.
In other words, the angels directed the woman to the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the Word of God.
Can you get the picture? These women, upon entering the
tomb, were perplexed. They thought the body had been
stolen. They were not thinking, that
they were not concluding. In their mind, He has risen.
They're asked a question. Why seek ye the living among the
dead? He is not here, but has risen.
Remember how He speak unto you. This group of women, some of
them has identified here, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, etcetera,
etcetera. They're full of doubt.
They're full of worry and fear. They're not thinking of the
words of Christ. And what does the angels do?
Directs them to the words of the Saviour.
It's as if the angels are saying, hear ye the word of the
Lord, that message about Christ's arrest and unjust trial
and cruel death by crucifixion. But he's alive now.
He has risen bodily from the dead.
And what are we told? And they remembered his words.
They they recalled them to mind. They got insight and light.
You see, faith in Christ is the only true and only basis for a
right relationship with God. Faith in Christ is the basis for
all the help that we need in the midst of all our grief and all
our distresses and all the darkness of our soul.
It's faith in the sayings of the Saviour or faith in the words of
Christ. A great comfort.
What tremendous clarity. Notice it wasn't the angels
themselves that was the focus of their attention.
It wasn't the angel's vision or the angel's voice.
The Angel said, remember how he speak unto you when he was yet
with you in galley, and they remembered his words.
Let me ask a question this morning.
Maybe you're here in the House of God in this Remembrance Day
service and you're full of worry, you're full of pain and
woe. Maybe you're away from the Lord
and you're thinking, how do I get back to the Lord?
I, I, I want to have a place of power and victory, a place where
I can enjoy the Lord, a place where I can know and love and
serve them. How can you spiritually journey
from a place of doubt and tragedy to a place of delight
and triumph? A place where you experience
darkness in your soul to a place of light in your soul?
And the answer lies here. And they remembered his words.
See, we're all prone to this now.
We're all prone and apartment to forget His words.
We're all prone and apartment to forget even the Gospel in its
simplicity, in its supernaturalness, in its
supremacy and superiority, that was a failure.
The problem that they experienced was a failure to
recall to mind his words when he was yet with them about his
arrest, his crucifixion, death and resurrection.
So I'm asking this, is that a picture of you this morning?
You're here. You're not in victory.
You feel your life is empty. Maybe in your heart and mind
you're full of doubt, fear. Maybe you're at the point of
despair. You're living on uncertainty.
You're filling your heart and mind with what?
Here's the answer to your problem.
Get back to the book. Come back to the words of
Christ. Think of this phrase.
Remember how they speak unto you. 6 words and link it up with
verse 8. Five more words and they
remembered His words. The Christian needs to remember
God's word. Remember what we read in
Revelation chapter 1 and verse 3.
Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this
prophecy and keep those things which are written therein for
the time is at hand. Three things, reading, hearing
and keeping all linked together. And as Christians, we need to
remember, there's a need to read and to hear and to keep the
words of the prophecy of this book.
And as Christians we need to remember especially the doctrine
of the resurrection. As I've said, it's one of the
fundamental doctrines of the faith.
They, they think with me here are two angels.
They could have used heavenly language to convince them of the
truth of the resurrection. They didn't.
They could have talked about, now you've seen a vision of two
angels and you've heard our voice.
They didn't. They pointed the woman to the
word of God. Imagine meeting not one, but 2
angels from heaven, and you're having a conversation with them
and you're telling it to something.
And you've been asked, well, what did the angels say?
And remember, in the context, they're full of doubt and fear
and discourage, full of despair. Things are going badly for them.
And now you meet an Angel. And what would you expect the
Angel to say? At the heart of what these
angels said was nothing about themselves, Not where they'd
come from, not what they were doing in heaven, not about their
shiny garments, not even about their voice.
No, at the heart of all they say, they direct you to the word
of God. They declare unto you the word
of God. They're not pointing you to a
vision. They're not pointing you to a
strange ecstatic utterance. They're not pointing you to some
weird dream. No, they direct these women.
They direct us to the word of the Lord.
They think of it pondering. I know I'm labouring the point,
but I want you to get the point. The angels took these sorrowing
woman full of doubt and fear and trouble.
They took them to the word of God.
It's as if they were saying take the words and recall them to
mind. Be not faithless but believing.
Remember how they left the anti tomb full of joy and delight
Back to the 11. Back to the rest of the apostles
to teach and tell them what the Lord is resonating.
These women were convinced by the word of God because they
remembered his words. You know the apostle Peter who
was one of these. 12 Remember what he said in Second Peter
chapter 1. He said this in verse 16.
Second Peter chapter one, verse 16.
For we have not followed cunnally devised fables, when we
made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus,
but for eyewitnesses of His Majesty.
For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when
there came such a voice to him from the action.
Glory. This was my beloved Son, in whom
I'm well pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven, verse 18, we heard when we were with them in the holy
mind. Now listen to verse 19.
We have also a more sure word of prophecy.
They ponder that. Peter says we're not engaging in
silly stories. Our message is not based in myth
and legend. It's not the stuff of folklore.
No, it's it's based on the word of God, which is true.
Young people, the Bible's not a meaningless book.
It's not a book full of vian empty stories.
Peter was an eyewitness. Peter heard the voice of the
Father. This is my beloved son in whom I
am well pleased. He was an eyewitness, he said We
saw, He could say, we heard, he could testify.
We were an eyewitness. And yet, Despite that, he said,
we also have a more sure word of prophecy, not fables, not idle
tales, a more sure word of prophecy, a more sure word than
even an eyewitness. So we'll ask this question.
How did the angels get through to the woman?
How did the angels get them? From a mindset of tragedy to
triumph, a mindset of despair to delight, a mind of gloom to
gladness. Remember how He speak unto you,
and they remembered His word. And I tell you this morning, the
battle for the Christian life is here.
You face temptation. You face trials and troubles.
You battle inordinate lust, peer pressure.
You have many tears and afflictions in life's journey.
You fight worries. How do we fight them?
Not with fables, not with idle tales, not a good yarn, not the
stuff of folklore, but back to the living Word of God, back to
the Bible. And in fact, if you read Luke
24, and I encourage you to do it, get a coffee and read Luke
24. Even the Lord Jesus directed the
two in the road to Emmaus back to the Bible.
He required them to listen, to, read, and to keep the Scripture.
Luke chapter 24, verses 25 to 27.
Read it for yourself. Remember, they were heartbroken,
they had gotten away from the Lord, they were ready to quit,
they were sad, and they had given up.
And a stranger comes to talk to them.
And the stranger expounded to them and all the scriptures the
things concerning himself. The same example like the holy
angels. He did the same with His
disciples in the upper room when He met them later in Luke 24,
verse 44 and 45. Listen to what it says.
And He said unto them, These are the words which I speak unto
you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be
fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and in the
prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me.
And you see, we're prone to forget.
The problem the woman experienced was they forgot His
words and we're prone to do the same.
We're prone to forget that we're sinners in the sight of God and
we've got a mortal soul. We're prone to forget that we
need to be saved and repent of that sin and trust in Christ.
We were prone to forget that we're loved by God from eternity
past. We we're prone to forget that we
were forgiven on the ground of the blood.
We were prone to forget that God's our heavenly Father and
Christ as our Saviour. We're prone to forget many
things. Let me move on very quickly.
Not only the problem that they experienced, but the precepts
that were expounded. If you look again at the text
that says in Luke chapter 24 verse 8 and they remembered his
words. Underline the word words the
Angel said, Remember how he speak unto you.
Link it up verse 6 and they remembered his words.
You see, the heart of the gospel centres in the veracity of the
Redeemer's words. His words are true.
There's no words like the words that fell from the lips of the
Lord Jesus, of Him. It has written, Never man speak
like this man. All that he said were words of
truth. All He ever said was true.
He never told a lie when he spoke of Adam and Eve in the
beginning, when he spoke of Noah and the flood, when he spoke of
Daniel, when he spoke of that Moses wrote of me.
When he talked about the beginning, all that he said was
true. He spoke of Himself, His birth,
His sin, this life, His atoning death, His arrest, His trial,
His death on the cross, His bodily resurrection.
You see, He alone could say in John 17, verse 17, Thy word is
truth, because He could say, I am the truth.
The veracity of the Redeemer's words.
Quickly think about the value of the Redeemer's words.
One of the most precious verses is SAB 119 verse 105.
Thy word is a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path.
What does a lamp do? There's a little lamp sitting
out there underneath the uniform of a member of the Royal Ulster
Constabulary. It's a miner's lamp for the
railway. What does a lamp do?
It gives illumination, and the word of God shows us our
sinfulness. It teaches what sin is it.
It cheques us in our sin. It reveals to us also God's
remedy from human sinfulness centred in the personal work of
Christ. First, John one and seven, the
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
The power of the precious blood and the lamp also gives us
direction. It gains our feet in the right
path. We're prone to slip.
We're prone to go our own way all we like.
Sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to His own
way. That's what we're like.
And yet the Word of God don't engage our feet, but guards our
feet. Our steps are ordered.
Psalm 119, verse 133. They're ordered in Thy word.
You see, we can all walk up right before the Lord.
We can walk righteously. Why?
Because the lamp of God's Word gives us direction, it also
gives us restoration. Do you know the last thing at
night the shepherd did when he come to the sheepfold was count
the sheep then? And if one was missing, he left
Porter in charge, took his light.
He's called the shepherd's lamp, and he went into the night and
he called for his sheep. Remember what we read in John 15
and in the verse 3. The Saviour said this in John 15
and verse 3. Now you're clean through the
Word, which I have spoken unto you.
The word has a saving, sanctifying effect upon our
hearts and upon our lives. John Westerly said I'm a Bible
Becket. Think only of the veracity and
the value of the Redeemer's. Think of the victory of the
redeemer's words. You see the lamp that's lit in
the darkness speaks of jubilation in the darkness.
You can say I've got a light. Now let me ask you this.
Maybe you're here this morning and you're suffering mentally in
your mind, and you've no peace and you're full of worry and
fear about yourself and your family and about the future.
Maybe you've even seen a loved one, a friend put to death,
brutally murdered. You're here today and remember
on Sunday, and you can remember the horrors of war.
And here's these women and they had seen and could remember the
horror of the crucifixion and they can't get the scene out of
their mind. And it's not easy when you're
suffering mentally. And yet, here's the answer.
Fill your heart and mind with the Word of God.
We live in a day when many pay scant attention to the Word of
God, but God's people cannot be indifferent.
We have got the words of Christ. Christ's word is the final word
on every subject, and it's the word of Christ that drives away
our fear. It's the word of Christ that
establishes our heart and mind with a firm grip in relation to
assurance. It's the word of Christ that
judges our life, even our sin. It's the word of Christ that
guides our steps. Young people have said this is
not a meaningless book. This is not a an ancient
doctrine that this is not a book of fables.
No, this is the living, true word of God.
And it's this book, as we read and here and keeping our hearts
and minds that convicts us of our sin and converts us to the
side of the Saviour and comforts us with God's salvation.
There's no book like it. It's not like a book in other
literature. There's a book out there, you
can look at it. It's called Lost Lives.
It's a record of those that were murdered during the killing
times here in Ulster. But this book is unlike any
other book because this book is the living God, braved Word of
the living God. It's not like secular or even
religious books. Read to understand.
Read to hear. Faith cometh by hearing and
hearing by the word of God. Read to embrace.
Read to receive all that he has to say.
Read to keep remember Job said in Job 23 verse 12, I've
esteemed thy word more than my necessary food.
If we receive this book into our hearts and minds, we can recall
things and we can rejoice over things because the word of
Christ is most suitable to us. As I've said, it cheques our
sin, comforts us in our in love it it it it conquers our fear.
It consoles us in our trials. It challenges us to live a life
of holiness and faith unto God. Let us treasure the word of
Christ. Let us meditate on His words.
Here's the precepts that were expounded.
Let's love these words. Let's be much in prayer over
them. Let's walk by them.
If He has given His ears to hear, let's remember what He did
say in John 14 and 23. If a man love me, He will keep
my words, and my Father will love Him, and we will come unto
him. And they got abode with Him.
One final thing, You've been very patient.
The person that was exalted, notice the word His, and they
remembered His words. What did the angels say unto
them in chapter 24 and verse 6? They said this.
He is not here, but as recent. Remember how He speak unto you
when He was yet in Galilee? The emphasis is on He.
And then it says, and they remembered his words time and
time again. When you read the New Testament,
we discover that the Lord Jesus told his disciples, I'm going to
be arrested, I'm going to be tried, I'm going to be put to
death, I'm going to rise again from the dead.
Remember in Matthew 1621 when he told that Peter, Peter says not
so Lord, it's not going to happen.
The Lord Jesus rebuked him and said get thee behind me Satan,
for thy saver is not the things of God, but the things that be
of man. Matthew 16 and 23.
Peter was not listening. Peter was not listening, and
therefore Peter didn't receive his words.
Peter couldn't recall them to mind even after they were told
about the resurrection. Peter was dull of listening,
dull of understanding, dull of thinking, dull of applying.
See, everyone today has an opinion.
Everyone today has a word. Everyone today is speaking, but
very few are listening to God. Very if you're listening to the
word of God. But God is speaking and speaking
to us out of His Word. And the question is, are we
connected? Sometimes we have no signal on
the television. Sometimes we have no signal for
the Internet. Sometimes there's no signal for
the radio. Even in the car, you maybe had a
dead spot, but it's still been broadcast on the television,
it's still been broadcast on the radio.
It's still the Internet connection still there.
It's just you've had a dead spot.
And what is true, literally, it's also true spiritually.
You could be listening to a service.
You could enjoy the 1st 10. You could be saying Amen to the
prayer and you could be begin to listen to the preaching and then
all of a sudden it cuts out. It's not that the service has
stopped, it's just you've had a dead spot and you've missed out
in that piece of information. How many are missing out in
Christ because they're in a dead spot spiritually and they
haven't received all that he has spoken and they can't recall all
that he has spoken because they haven't received it and
therefore they can't rejoice in the word of Christ?
I want you to understand this as we finish.
Christ was arrested. Christ was the man of sorrows.
Think of him being being beaten up.
And what the soldiers did to Christ was terrible, was
unjustifiable. They, they, they, they tried him
like a common criminal. And then he died, that horrible
death of crucifixion naked on the tree.
And you can imagine the tears and the sadness and the anguish
of the heart and mind of his disciples.
And yet we're told Christ has risen.
Christ is alive. Christ was born for sinners,
lived a sinless life for sinners, died for sinners, rose
again for sinners. And if we were to ponder this
morning, the majesty of His Person, the Son of God who loved
me and gave Himself for me, pondered the meaning of His
passion. He did it all for me.
Think of the mercy of His provision, the the grace of
Christ that reaches us, the blood that was shed.
Think of the majesty of His power.
He has risen bodily from the dead, and He is able to
resurrect us in Christ. Think of the mystery of His
Person. He meets with us day and daily.
He speaks to us day and daily. He feeds us day and daily.
He strengthens our stay and daily with His word.
It's a word of revelation. Are you satisfied with Christ
and his Word, His message, His merit, His mercy, His mind?
It's it's all here. The person that they exalted in
their minds was he, It was his word.
So I leave this thought with you today and this resurrection
theme on this Remembrance Sunday.
And they remembered his words.