Easter 2021 Sermon

Intro/Welcome

Happy Easter One Hope!

He is Risen! “ He is risen indeed”

Welcome to the celebration the most important day in all of eternity.

The day Christ Rose from the Dead!

My name is Justin, on of Pastors

Good to be with you

Welcome

If it’s been a while since you came to church, I want to welcome you.

But I also want to ask why is that?

One reason people give is that in Church they feel judged.

The church is full of hypocrites

Self-righteous people that judge others

judge the culture

Well I’ve got good news for you, if this is your experience:

John 3:17 CSB 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn (judged) the world, but to save the world through him.

Did you hear that.

Jesus came not to judge the world, but to save it.

Listen to that.

Jesus came to earth to save it, not to judge it.

In fact, he came to be judged by it, that you might be saved from it.

This is what Easter is all about.

It is about the death and resurrection of Jesus.

That you might be saved!

Bible

We’ll be in John 3:16

Let’s Pray

Pray

for salvation

“Saved”

Poison

If you had mistakenly ingested a ‘poison’ in your morning coffee, would you want to know about it?

Of course you would.

Suppose it was slow acting, and would take affect gradually over time, but in the end it would kill you.

Would knowing about that help you now or just in the end?

It would benefit you now.

This is how we are to think about salvation.

Does being saved only benefit us when we die?

Of course not

It benefits us hear and now.

We see this in the most famous bible verse of all time.

John 3:16 CSB 16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:17 CSB 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

When we look at these two verses we see the parallels:

condemn/judge = perish

save = have eternal life

To be saved means to have eternal life

that is to live eternally

Does eternal life only begin at death?

No, it also begins here and now.

Eternity starts now, today and goes forever.

Our decision to Follow Christ has implications from the moment we decide extending unto eternity.

John 10:10 CSB ...I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

Does this perishing begin only at death?

No, it begins here and now as slowly as a poison works

If we are not following God then we are in the process of perishing.

Not only at death, but now

For many of us, we may think that our decision to follow Christ only has implications when we die.

But that is woefully inadequate.

The gift of the Kingdom of God is not just a future kingdom, but of a kingdom here and now

A near and present and powerful kingdom

Matthew 4:17 CSB 17 From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

take a step back towards god

2020-2021

2020-2021 has been a difficult season.

Many of us our exhausted.

Mental Health is in a state of crisis

Anxiety and depression are running rampant.

I feel it.

But do you know why, biblically, we experience tribulation? affliction? difficulty? uncertainty?

to point us to the only source of true peace, confidence and comfort

Pain is meant to point us back to the Person of God

ILL: Diesel

Have you ever accidentally put diesel fuel in your car at the pump?

You know you are busy texting, listening to a podcast, kids are fighting in the back.

When diesel fuel does end up in a gasoline tank, the car will run for a few miles or so, until all the gasoline that's still in the fuel line gets used up. At that point, the engine will shut down -- boom.

Gasoline engines cannot combust diesel fuel, so the car would stop running.

Your car would experience tribulation and affliction.

Suffering reveals that we have been using the wrong fuel for our souls

We may last for a few miles, but we will not reach our intended destination.

Our souls were meant to run on God, and nothing else.

One thing I know that God is doing is pointing people back to Him as the way to eternal living

But Why?

Why would he do that?

Why would he bother?

Because he loves you.

We tend to think that difficulty in our lives means that God doesn’t love us, while in fact it may be the very means that God is using to draw us back to himself.

How have you been struggling? Well? Poorly?

Do you ever feel like God has abandoned you?

That he doesn’t care about you?

That he doesn’t really love you?

The enemy’s lie:

This is the great lie that the enemy is intent on convincing us of:

That God doesn’t love

that God has abandoned

That God is irrelevant

That is why we needed irrefutable evidence of God’s love.

That is why for two millenium John 3:16 has been such a powerful verse.

it assures us that this is not true

no matter how much we feel that God is not with us,

feel that God does not love us

This verse stands in stark contrast:

A mountain overshadowing the valley of doubt.

For God so loved the world

John 3:16 CSB 16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

This isn’t God loved himself

not even God loved his own people Israel

it is God loved the righteous, the pious, those who have it all together.

No it is God loved the World!

in all of it’s mess

in all of it’s confusion

in all of its rebellion and refusal to come to God

It means you and I

no matter where you are, who you are, what you’ve done

This verse says that GOD LOVED YOU

God knew we would need this.

ILL: What would you trust?

someone who just says I love you?

or someone who shows they love you by their action?

God shows us his love in History, in a person, in an event.

How?

In this Way

John 3:16 CSB 16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16 tells us

God loved the world in this way

in this manner

as follows

God’s love was manifested in this way

Here then is the tangible, concrete, historical way in which God demonstrated his love for you.

the moment it clicked for me

John 3:16 CSB 16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

He gave — here express the genuine self-giving nature of God

Love gives

Love doesn’t take

God didn’t come to take from us, but to Give to us.

He gave is one and only son, the second person of the trinity, the God who put on human flesh

He sent him to save us, to give eternal life, to open the way.

Why?

So that we would not perish but have eternal life.

Why are we all perishing?

becuase of sin.

The Woman Caught in Adultery (John 8)

“Law says to stone her, what do you say?”

“let he who is without sin cast the first stone”

Who here is without sin?

Anyone?

Anyone ever perfectly done everything right?

not just in deed but from the heart?

with the right motives?

This is what you and I were designed for

But we failed everyone of us.

That is why the world is broken!

It’s not only out there

but it’s in here (point to your heart)

You and I are all guilty.

We are all that woman

dragged out in shame and guilt.

We need mercy.

Jesus says “Your sins are forgiven, go and sin no more”

Jesus came to save!

Because of Sin — we are all living in a broken world.

We live in a Broken World

We live in a broken world.

We are all perishing apart from God

It’s all falling apart

We all try various ways, there is no escaping the brokenness we live in.

George Flloyd’s trial started this weak.

Evidence of the broken world we live in

Whatever the verdict is — will be further evidence of the broken world we live in.

Trying to save ourselves

We are all trying to escape the brokenness

we are trying to save ourselves, we wouldn’t say that, but our lives would

We are trusting in anything and everything but this self-giving God

To satisfy our lives, to find comfort, to find satisfaction

to find security, to find purpose

But everything fails.

Nothing and no-one can bring us what our souls long for

Ecclesiastes 3:11 CSB ... He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end.

One Way Out

There is only one way out of brokenness and into life.

The Cross and the Tomb.

It’s not out of the brokenness but through it

the same way that Jesus went.

The Cross and the Empty Tomb

Jesus who was unbroken

entered into brokenness

to be broken so that you and I could become whole.

Romans 4:25 CSB 25 He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Jesus Christ took our judgment in our place for our sins.

He didn’t run away from God, we did.

Jesus didn’t sin we did.

He was delivered up for our SIN

He took the effects of the poison for us

It ate away at his skin, his organs

he died in our place.

You see that is us.

We are all as guilty as she in our sin.

to be dragged before the judge

But Jesus gives us mercy and forgiveness

he is stoned to death in our place.

That’s Good Friday

The Empty Tomb

Romans 4:25 CSB 25 He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

But he was raised for our justification.

for our righteousness

our pardon, the forgiveness of Sin

Sin was atoned for, paid in full

Jesus died for sin

Jesus rose for new life.

true life

eternal life

life that starts now with God

and extends to eternity.

This is the eternal kind of life now!

The Gift of Easter

This is the great gift of Easter

New Life! Eternal Life! Resurrection Life

Followers of Jesus are not like Frankenstein

raised, lifeless, dull, deviod of joy and real life

Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37 describes it like this as the word of God comes over a valley of dry bones and they LIVE!

They rise up.

This is the abundant life that Jesus promised.

One that will remain unshakable in the world

in times like COVID

do you want this gift?

Do you want to live eternally?

What is required?

Believe

What is required?

John 3:16 CSB 16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Everyone, anyone

Who Believes

literally to the “ones presently believing” in Him, in Jesus.

The word there is the same word for faith.

to the one having faith in Him

to the one Trusting in Him that he gave his life for theirs.

Do you believe?

Have you believed?

had faith trusted in Jesus.

This is the path to eternal life — Jesus says

I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6)

to living eternally.

John 6:28–29 CSB 28 “What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked. 29 Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.

Both Now and Then

I want you to believe, to trust, to have faith in the person and work of Jesus.

It is for both now and then.

Living eternally begins the moment you believe

But there will be a day when the decision can be made no more.

That will either come when we die or

Jesus comes back specifically to judge the living and the dead.

And on that day it will be too late.

Today is the day

Now is the time.

You and I are not promised tmrw

I believe that you are here now for this very question.

I believe you whole life has been leading up to this very moment.

Will you believe in person and the work of Jesus for you?

I remember sitting in those seats nearly 15 years ago

pondering if this was true for me

wavering back and forth

wondering if I should do it

hesitating then going

My life has never been the same.

It has been an eternal kind of life

For you, today is the day

God is calling to you.

You can give your life to Jesus here and now

Don’t delay

To Not Decide is to decide

Next Steps

take your first step

You can do that today here in person or online by simply letting us know on our next steps form

go to onehope.info and fill out a next steps form

Next Steps Slide

maybe you are not ready to say yes, but you do want to talk

let us know.

Additionally if you are here in person

now is the time

we will have leaders in the back eager to talk with you

if you have questions

if you want to give your life to jesus and experience eternal life

Come and talk with us.

I want to just give us a moment to consider this decision before us.

tak a step back towards god

Maybe for you, it is that you have been running from God

and now it’s time to come back

to recommit your life, to rededicate your life

If so, come and talk with us

We would love to pray for you.

Wait a moment...

I’m going to ask you all to stand

in a moment the band will start playing

and there will be some movement in the room.

that’s ok, come when you are ready

Don’t wait, take the step, take your first step

fill out hat form

come and pray with us.

Closing Prayer