You may remember the story of the Texas Revolution. In December 1835 the Texas revolutionaries took the town of San Antonio. The fortress there was called the Alamo and was guarded by 150 men when Santa Anna, with Mexican forces came against the town on February 26 the next year. With 32 reinforcements the Texans held off the enemy until March 6 when the siege ended in bloody hand to hand combat and every Texan was dead including Jim Bowie and Davy Crocket. Because the past exerts power in the present through the gift of memory.
Memory is power.
The person who says that history is bunk, or that the past is gone and all that matters is the present, just doesn't know much about real life. In real life memory has tremendous power to inspire and guide. The powers of darkness will constantly try to put out the light of truth in your life. Worldliness fight for your mind everyday. I'm sure that is what God is going to say to some professing Christians for whom the death of Jesus made so little difference in their lives.