Intro
Good evening. In this last year my wife and I have been blessed to minister in many different countries. I have very much enjoyed learning the different customs of each country. In the USA we eat with a fork in our right hand and knife in the left. In Eastern Europe we learned to keep the fork in the left and the knife in the right. Then we went to China and threw out the fork and knife and learned to use chopsticks. Here in India we threw out the chopsticks and use our right hand only. When I get home I may get so confused I forget all about the fork or chopsticks and just push my face into the plate.
I love Indian culture. I love the traditional clothes you wear, the namaste greeting, and the respectful politeness of your children. In understand that one tradition we both have is the giving of gifts. When someone comes to visit they can bring a gift to show friendship. So I have brought you a gift. This is a special gift that everyone here can share. It is not something from my country so it is not the keys to a Chevrolet car, a pair of Levi jeans, or a Mac Donald's hamburger. In fact it came from the land of Israel. It is my greatest treasure and I brought it just to share with you.
The problem is that perhaps not all of you may want this precious gift. I don't want to be rude and force something on you that you do not want. And so before I invite you to come up here to open this gift and share it with me I want to spend some time talking about who would want this gift. That way I will not embarrass you and you will not embarrass me. So what kind of person could use this special gift? To answer that I want to begin by telling you an important story.
A Father and a Hole
There was once a wise father who wanted to teach his children why Jesus came to earth. So he spent several days digging a hole in the ground and when it was finally so deep he could no longer see out of the hole he called his children. The father explained that they were going to learn something by playing a game. First he had the three children climb down the ladder into his deep hole while he stood outside the hole at the top. The father explained that in this game the children had to find a way out of the hole but the one rule was they could not touch the ladder.
The children thought and thought. The oldest said they should all try and jump out of the hole. So for several minutes they all took turns jumping as high as they could and grabbing at the edge. None of them even came close to getting out. Next the middle child suggested they stand on each other's shoulders to get out. This seemed like a pretty good idea so they climbed on top of one another but before the children came anywhere near getting out they all tumbled down into a heap at the bottom.
Next the children fought and argued for a long time about how they might get out and finally they sat down in total defeat. After a long time the youngest girl stood up in the hole and called to her father, "Daddy, I have an idea. Would you please come down the ladder to where we are?" The father agreed and climbed into the hole with his children. "Daddy," continued the small girl, "Please bend down so I can get on your back." The father did so and the child easily threw her arms around her father's neck and held tightly to his back.
Next the girl said, "Daddy, please go over to the ladder." When the father did so she asked, "Please take a step up on the ladder." The father stepped onto the ladder while the child clung to his back. "Daddy please move up to the next step," and up the father went and the girl with him. One step at a time the girl asked her father to move up the ladder until they were out of the hole. "There," she said, "I am out of the hole and I did not touch the ladder." The other children clapped and laughed and asked their father to carry them out as well.
When all the children were out of the hole and standing next to their father he congratulated them for winning the game and proceeded to explain how man got himself into a deep hole of sin and there was no way out, no way to come back up to God. So God became a man and came down into the hole man was in. By His death Jesus took the punishment for sin each of us should have received by eternal judgment in hell. Jesus bent down to the lowest of the low and allowed each of us to climb onto His back so He could carry us back up to our Heavenly Father. It was a good lesson and those three children never forgot why Jesus came to earth.
Bad News
Friends I have come tonight with some very good news about what is in this box. However before I can share my good news I must confess some very bad news. I am telling you this story about the three children because it is a picture of us. We are those children down in the hole.
There are many ways that you and I are different. I have white skin you have beautiful brown skin. When I was a child I had blonde hair. You have shinny black hair. Where I come from it is very cold and wintery right now. From my house I can see mountains with snow on them. We must to wear heavy coats and big boots to stay warm. You have beautiful temperatures and green palm trees. There are many ways we are different but there are far more ways in which we are exactly the same.
Both of us are the same in God's eyes. He created all of us and He loves us very much. We are completely equal in God's eyes. In fact, no matter who you are or what caste you come from everyone of you is special to God. He knows your name and everything about you. Listen to the written words of Jesus:
Matt 10:29-31
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
So one way we are all alike is that God knows each of us, man and woman, boy and girl, high caste and low cast. He knows us and we are worth so much to Him. However God also knows another way we are all alike. We have all sinned.
Rom 3:22-23
There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…
This is how we are all like the three children in our story. We are all down in the hole we dug by our own sin. Let's talk for a moment about what sin is. There is much confusion on this subject because the religious leaders tell us some things are sinful that are truly not sin. Also there are some things we accept as okay that the Bible says are sin. Let me give you some examples.
Jesus rebuked the religious leaders because they followed external rules about eating, and ceremonial washing but inside they were evil. Listen:
Matt 23:27-28
27 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."
So if it is not sinful to ignore rules made up by religious leaders, what is sinful? Let me show you a very simple verse in the Bible that defines sin. We just read it a moment ago:
Rom 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…
When we fall short of the glory God intended for us we sin. We were made to live united with God in our hearts every moment of every day. We are to meditate on Him and be consumed by His glory. Every decision and every word we speak is to be directed by Him. I do not know about you but according to this definition I must be sinning most every moment. I rarely live according to the glory of God because the perfect world God created has become corrupted. I live in such a hateful, jealous, selfish world that I myself have become sinful. Remember I said we have to first discuss bad news tonight. This is the beginning of the bad news. You and I are bigger sinners that we thought. We sin every time our thoughts slip away from God.
Isa 53:6
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way…
Every one of us has turned away from God and chosen to handle life according to our own wisdom and that is sin. So the hole we live in is very deep indeed. Every time I make a decision of what I will do that day and my decision is not immersed in the truth and glory of God then I just dug my hole a little deeper. When I speak to my family and my words do not originate with my connection to God then I have just dug another spade of dirt out of my hole. Every lie, unkindness, and self-centered action digs my hole deeper. Jesus said that even our evil thoughts are sin.
Matt 5:27-28
"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
We began digging our holes as soon as we were old enough to understand right from wrong. So by the time I was ten or eleven years old my hole was already so deep I could no way climb out. I was trapped before I was even a teenager.
Some of you know what I am talking about. You knew long before I started talking tonight that you made mistakes in the past, that you were in a hole of your own making. Some of you are so deep it is always back and fearful even in the daytime you feel the torture of your past sins. Drunkenness, meanness, cheating, lust, every bad word, every bad thought; you are in a deep hole and you know that just as those children could not jump out or climb out there is no way for you to erase what you have done. No amount of good acts now will un-dig your hole and no one else can put you on their shoulders and let you climb out by their help. You knew before coming here that you are trapped in deep hole of past and present sins.
And now it breaks my heart but I must be honest and tell you the worst news of all. If you die while you are still in the bottom of your hole then you will spend eternity in punishment in hell. Listen to what Jesus said:
Matt 13:40-42
"As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Good News
Enough of the bad news. Now it is time to talk about the good news. The good news is that what I brought in this box will solve the problem of our sin hole. If you are in a sin hole then this gift is perfect for you.
Remember the three children finally had to ask their father to come into the hole with them and rescue them. That is exactly what Jesus has done for us. Jesus was in heaven as part of God before He was born into a human body. Listen to the words of Jesus:
John 17:1-5
"Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began."
The work Jesus had to do was to come down the ladder into our hole and let us climb onto His back that we might go with Him back to the Father for eternal life.
This is the good news I have for you: Jesus has come to rescue you out of your sin hole.
Let's talk about why Jesus died. Why was he crucified? The Bible tells us He was beaten on the body and in the face so badly that He could not even be recognized. He was nailed to a cross and there He died. Why? The answer is in the Bible at the place we read earlier about our sin. Listen:
Isa 53:4-6
4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
That was a prophecy written about Christ Jesus more than 400 years before He was born. The reason Jesus was sent into the world was so our punishment would be put on Him when He was beaten and died on the cross. Let me confess to you that I do not fully understand how this can be possible; how it is that my sins of today can be transferred across 2000 years to Jesus and there be removed. I do not know how it works but I know it does work.
I do not know how electric lights works. I know it has to do with electrons passed from atom to atom of conductive materials such as copper wire and I know that energy originated at the power plant but I do not fully understand it. Even still when I turn on the switch the light comes on. I do not have to understand how God transfers my sin to His own Son I just have to trust Him and throw the switch of my loyalty to Him. Listen to more of Isaiah 53:
Isa 53:10-12
10 Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days ,and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. 11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Overqualified
Let me tell you another story to help us understand how Jesus could pay for our sins. One time there was a world famous cricket bowler who won many awards and a lot of money because he could bowl with extreme accuracy. This bowler could throw a back spin, all-round spin, or arm ball within a centimeter of his target. On one of his days off he was in a crowded shopping area when he heard a shriek. A little old lady yelled, "Help, he took my purse."
The bowler looked over the heads of the crowd to see a man running away, shoving people, and clutching the old lady's handbag. The bowler always carried a ball or two in his pockets to autograph for special children. He calmly pulled out a ball and threw it hard at the thief. It struck the back of the evil man's head and knocked him down. Others kindly returned the old lady's purse and held the thief for the police. The old woman could not stop praising her hero. She did not know who he was. The famous cricket bowler bowed slightly and continued on his way. The old woman never realized how overqualified the bowler was for the simple pitch he made.
Who is Jesus that he could effectively die for our sins? Listen to what the Bible says:
Col 1:15-20
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
I declare to you that Jesus was overqualified for the task of dying for us.
Still Climbing
God said Jesus bore my sin and so I believe Him. I have climbed onto Jesus' back and we have already begun the climb out of the hole. I am not out yet. I still sin and I have a long way to go before I am living in the full glory of God. However one rung at a time Jesus is remaking my life. I now have eternal purpose where in the past I had only selfish ambition; that is one step upwards. I now love people in a new way. Ten years ago I would not give up my comfortable lifestyle to go to far away places to tell others about Jesus. But now I look on your faces and God has put a deep love in my heart for you. I am desperate that not one of you should lose out on the joy and eternal life I now have; so I am another step up on the ladder. I tell you I have had the best the world offers and it only gets in the way of the far better gifts of the Holy Spirit which are available to all of us: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. To gain these precious gifts I have given up the wealth of the world and that moves me up the ladder a little more.
In the meantime should I die tonight I know without a doubt that I am on the back of Jesus and He will carry me the rest of the way home to father in paradise. I have Jesus so I know I have eternal life.
1 John 5:11-13
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Invitation
I know I have the Son Jesus. What about you? By now you have guessed what the gift is that I brought to you. Let's open it now (open gift). It is Jesus. Listen to these words from Him to your heart (read from paper in box):
John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 7:37-38
"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."
John 14:6
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
John 8:32
"…you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Do you want to be set free from your hole? Do you want this gift? This gift is Jesus, this is forgiveness of any and all sin. This is a renewed life, a beautiful and meaningful life with a perfect future. As Jesus says, if you want this gift, come. This is the first step of a amazing, light filled journey. It all begins by coming forward to say, "Yes, I believe Jesus is the only way to God and I will follow him." Do not stay in your sin hole. There is no other way out. No one and nothing accept Jesus can come down the ladder to you. Here is what Jesus said:
John 10:7-11
"I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
No one else had laid down their life and died for your sins. There is no other way out of the hole. If you want out come to Jesus tonight. Freedom from sin is my gift to you and I pray you will accept it.
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