God's answer to our sin
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Good morning,
I am so happy to be here today
I can’t even tell you
You know I got to be honest
I have been looking forward to today
All week long
There is just something about being in church
Something about worshipping God with fellow Christians
Anyways
You know I remember listening to a sermon by Billy Graham
If you haven’t figured it out yet
He is one of my hero’s
But I remember listening to a sermon by this man at one point
And i remember him telling everyone in the audience
And this was a big audience
I mean think baseball stadium
50-60K people
But I remember him telling everyone there
“I want to give you a fare warning, the message you are about to hear today is the Gospel”
What does that mean, it means that when we pass from this life to the next
When you stand before God almighty
The creator of the universe
There will be no excuse that will suffice
No excuse that you can conjure up
No excuse that you can fabricate
because after today
You will know the truth
You will know what the Bible says about why Christ died on the cross
About why we have confidence on the day of judgment
About why you can live this life a changed person
Because after today you will know the Gospel
And so I want to give you that same warning
After today
You will never again
Be able to say you didn’t know
After today
You will never again
Be able to use that excuse,
No one ever explained it to me
Because today you are going to hear the Gospel
In it’s entirety.
And I’m doing this for two reasons
One, I am not oblivious to what is going on in the world
And I am not oblivious to the concerns you all have
I mean we live in some very trying times
Uncertain times
And I know some of you are concerned
Some of you have questions
And it’s only natural in our line of work
I mean I see the questions coming from the civilians
And I know the occupation that we have
Those same questions, come from a deeper place
A place of deep concern
Of worry about whats next
But the number two, I want to give you the assurance
That no matter what happens
No matter where we go
No matter what orders come down
That no matter what the world throws at us
We are going to be ok
That we are going to make it
I mean I want you to really think on this because
Even the early church struggled with this
Even the early church struggled with questions
Partly due to the persecution of Christians
But’s lets be real
When we really start to realize our own mortality
We begin to ask, whats next
And as leaders in the church
As pastors in the church
As the original apostles of Christ, just as in today
They felt it was their responsibility to ensure that everyone understood
That everyone had confidence
that they could trust in their salvation
That their God
That their savior had everything under control
I mean I hope you realize that everything that is happening
Is happening for a reason
Everything that is happening is lining up with God’s purpose
With God’s plan
God is sovereign
And His hand is guiding everything.
I create the light and make the darkness.
I send good times and bad times.
I, the Lord, am the one who does these things.
So i am going to ask today,
Trust in Jesus
Trust in God
Everything is going to be ok
Just as it says in Romans
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
So today I want to go over
God’s love for mankind in Jesus
I want us to understand why he had to save us
Finally, I want us to understand why we are confident in our salvation
So please open up your Bible to
Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.
You know what I love about the opening of this section of study
Is that it echoes the excitement that John had
In the first chapter
I mean if you recall just the first few opening verse
We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.
The apostle here
he is echoing the excitement that so many throughout history have displayed
In fact
so many that I have personally seen
You know growing up in a church that was flooded with homeless people
Flooded with those that struggle in life
You got to see this all the time
People that are literally dying from their own behaviors
People that just can’t seem to get on their feet
Who suddenly gave their life up to Christ
Who saw the trajectory of their life change in nearly every way
And you see the joy and the excitement that comes from them
When they speak about the one who saved them
When they speak about Jesus
Honestly I can’t think of a better example than my own brother
here is a kid who was born to be a dead beat in everything
Born to have our taxes pay for his housing and meals
Born to go no where in life,
Who literally changed over night
Once he came to a complete and total surrender
Once he became that slave to Christ,
he was never the same
Now he owns his own business,
Is married, adopted his daughter
And is far more successful than any of us ever thought he would be
but the point is when you talk to him about Christ
When you talk to him about Jesus,
The excitement
The joy
The love that pours out of him,
It’s incredible!
And that is exactly what John is doing here
Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
John is making it abundantly clear
Jesus is everything
Jesus is the answer from the Father
He is the only way to the Father
He is everything
And once you truly understand this
You begin to really understand the underpinning
The motivation
The focus of this letter
Because John is laying out the Gospel
In a way that is so clear so powerful
That’s its life changing
Really think on this and really break it down
Why was John so excited,
I mean seriously why?
Isn’t Jesus just some guy
From this tiny town named nazareth
I mean what could possibly be so special about him
And really pay attention here
Because this is where we get into the heart of the message
And I want to you back to the Garden,
And I know if you came to bible study this week
You heard some of this
But I really want to nail this home
I don’t want there to be any mis understanding
See back when God created everything
The Bible says everything was perfect
Everything to include mankind
In fact the deeper you go you begin to understand that literally
Death
Decay
Didn’t enter the scene
Until the first sin was committed
And so what unique is that Bible describes a moment in time
When everything changed
When the perfect world
That was unfamiliar with death, disease, violence, hatred, war, drug, addictions
So Unfamiliar with sin
Was suddenly cast into the complete opposite of what it was familiar
I mean how many of us realized that the state of this world
Is not the norm
The norm is what God created in the Garden
But
Because of one act of sin
One bite of an apple
One single act of indiscretion
God’s was forced to enact judgement on his own creation
Did you guys realize sin is the cause of everything negative in our world
Its the reason you get old and sick and die
Its the reason you are naturally selfish
Its the reason for violence and anger
It’s the very reason we are separated from God
See the Bible is very clear on the character of God
He is righteous
He is pure
He is holy
And therefore He cannot be in the presence of sin
And because of that single act of disobedience
The Bible says that all creation is under this curse of sin
And so the Gospel freedom from sin
Because ever since the garden we have been separated from God
Separated his perfection
From his righteousness
And the Bible teaches that the only way to correct what happened in the Garden
Is through Sacrifice
But not just any sacrifice
The ultimate sacrifice that would forgive our sin
And put us in right with God
This is why the Jesus is the only way
This is why John 14:6 IS VITAL TO OUR FAITH
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
John again makes this abundantly clear in 2 verse 2
Where it says
He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.
Hebrews 4 verse 16 tells us we can boldly come before the thrown of God
Because through one man
Through Jesus
Our sins have been forgiven
We can come before God again
We can have that relationship with God again.
That’s the Gospel,
You and I, once separated from God
Now reconciled through Christ
Through Jesus act of love on that cross
You and I can stand before God mighty
Confident that we are saved
Confident that our sins have been forgiven
Confident that we can be with God in eternity.
In his love
In his care
1 John 4:17 (NLT)
... So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
You know what this tells me folks
I have hope
I have joy
I have everything to look forward to!
And to prove this is real
To prove to the world that Jesus is God
He rose from the dead
So that we might have confidence on the day of judgment
And not because of anything you did
Anything I did
Not because of how much money you gave
Not because of how special you are
It was all because of Jesus and what he was willing to go through on that cross
Out of love for you
The Bible says in
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Folks this is why John was so excited,
The answer to everyones question
The answer to what happens when I die
The answer that has plagued humanity since its inception
John is screaming, its Jesus
Seriously
Have you ever given it any thought
Every civilization
Every religious believe
Is centered on two premises
Two primary objectives
One, what happens when i die
Two, how do i make sure God accepts me
And yet Christianity in a way that is abundantly clear
Gives you an answer that screams God’s love you
What’s unique is that you can see this hope
You can feel this excitement
Throughout history
Jacob Prasch well known scholar
Theologian and historian wrote a book
Called the The final words of Jesus and Satan’s lies today
He recounts two historical accounts of men dying
near the time of Jesus
One a Jewish Rabbi who didn’t believe Jesus was the Messiah
And the Other the apostle Paul
I want to read for you the difference in the two men as they lay on their death bed.
Upon his death bed Rabbi Ben Zakkai wept and his disciples came to him—as recorded in the Talmud—and asked him: “O mighty hammer, why do you weep?” Ben Zakkai replied: “I am about to meet Ha Shem (God) Blessed be His name; and there are two roads before me. One leads to Paradise and the other to hell, and I know not to which of the two He will sentence me.” Ben Zakkai confessed as he approached his death that rabbinic Judaism gave him no assurance of salvation. In contrast, his classmate, Rabbi Paul of Tarsus, when facing death said: “Trouble me no further, I have run the good race, fought the good fight, and I now know that there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness from Jesus the Messiah, Our Lord.”22
Two men
Entirely devout in their belief
One suffered from the same fear
The same agony as every other belief system
The reality of not knowing
The reality of Fear
And yet each disciple of Christ,
Died a martyrs death, minus John
Each looking forward to the next life without fear
Without confusion
Only anticipation
Billy Graham said before died,
He looks forward to the day he meets Jesus
He looks forward to death with great anticipation.
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.
Guys I want you to walk out of here today boldly proclaiming the love of Jesus
Boldly proclaiming you are His
Understanding with certainty that if God is love
Then you can rest assured that if you have faith
Then nothing in this world has power over you.
Nothing in this world can take away that assurance that Jesus paid it all for you
Let me close us out with one final passage
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Lets close in prayer
“The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.” ’