On Easter morning we went to a sun-rise service that was out on the lawn in front of the sanctuary. A group of roughly 70 souls sang praises to our God and Saviour for His great and wonderful gift of adoption and eternal life. As the color came into the sky, the pastor read from the Bible where Paul wrote to the struggling Corinthians who followed Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul breaks it down to the absolute basics of Christianity. If Christ did not rise from the dead then we who call ourselves Christians have no hope at all, and are to be pitied above all others. For if we only have hope in this life, but not in the after-life, then what does it matter. Our joy and our hope would be in vain.
So why do we have hope? Paul testifies that over 500 people saw the risen Jesus at once, and that most were still living at the time he wrote the letter. He tells of his own persecution of the church, but how he last of all saw Christ, "as one born out of due time." In other words, Paul was born a month late into the family of God. He was given a special gift hand delivered by Jesus himself. He spent all his efforts trying to disprove the claims of "The Way", and now he meets the Way himself, and realizes it is all true. Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Do you know Jesus? Do you really know the Son of God to where you can hope in Him and talk to Him? When it comes to death and what mysteries lie beyond this life, do you have your trust in Jesus? What we fear most is judgment, but Jesus said He didn't come to judge the world, but that the world was already under judgment. Jesus is the only one who can step in between us and God's judgment, because He never sinned and we have. We need a perfect Saviour, and Jesus is the only way.
But Jesus is not picky. You don't have to get all cleaned up before you can come to Jesus. He already knows your sins, but you have to stop justifying yourself in your own mind and own up to the sin inside you. The Bible says that whoever sins is a slave to sin. If you don't believe me, just try to be perfect. As long as we wear our flesh around our souls we carry our capacity and nature to do wrong. It is also the thing that inhibits our fellowship with our Maker God. Jesus gave himself up to die on a cross for you and me. The cross He hung on was my cross and your cross. A person who rejects Jesus' authority and sacrifice, rejects His payment which covers that man's sin. But whoever believes in Him and His sacrifice, shall not perish, but will inherit eternal life.
It has nothing to do with working hard to earn the right to go to heaven. You can never be good enough on your own.
Trying to get there through good behaviour is what I call WORKS. Works looks like counting good deeds, hoping for a good life by honoring your dead ancestors, or trying really hard not to do any wrong. Works can save the whales and unborn babies, and even be a doctor on the front lines saving the lives of soldiers wounded in battle. But the premise that you can work your way into heaven is still self-justification.
The hymn says it best. Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, but He washed me white as snow.
Believe in Jesus, and call out to Him, and He will save you just because He loves you. He loves you so much, He got on your cross to pay your debt. When you give your life to Jesus, you become His, and you become an adopted child of the Creator of the Universe. This is His story written out in our hearts.
--Johnie
So why do we have hope? Paul testifies that over 500 people saw the risen Jesus at once, and that most were still living at the time he wrote the letter. He tells of his own persecution of the church, but how he last of all saw Christ, "as one born out of due time." In other words, Paul was born a month late into the family of God. He was given a special gift hand delivered by Jesus himself. He spent all his efforts trying to disprove the claims of "The Way", and now he meets the Way himself, and realizes it is all true. Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Do you know Jesus? Do you really know the Son of God to where you can hope in Him and talk to Him? When it comes to death and what mysteries lie beyond this life, do you have your trust in Jesus? What we fear most is judgment, but Jesus said He didn't come to judge the world, but that the world was already under judgment. Jesus is the only one who can step in between us and God's judgment, because He never sinned and we have. We need a perfect Saviour, and Jesus is the only way.
But Jesus is not picky. You don't have to get all cleaned up before you can come to Jesus. He already knows your sins, but you have to stop justifying yourself in your own mind and own up to the sin inside you. The Bible says that whoever sins is a slave to sin. If you don't believe me, just try to be perfect. As long as we wear our flesh around our souls we carry our capacity and nature to do wrong. It is also the thing that inhibits our fellowship with our Maker God. Jesus gave himself up to die on a cross for you and me. The cross He hung on was my cross and your cross. A person who rejects Jesus' authority and sacrifice, rejects His payment which covers that man's sin. But whoever believes in Him and His sacrifice, shall not perish, but will inherit eternal life.
It has nothing to do with working hard to earn the right to go to heaven. You can never be good enough on your own.
Trying to get there through good behaviour is what I call WORKS. Works looks like counting good deeds, hoping for a good life by honoring your dead ancestors, or trying really hard not to do any wrong. Works can save the whales and unborn babies, and even be a doctor on the front lines saving the lives of soldiers wounded in battle. But the premise that you can work your way into heaven is still self-justification.
The hymn says it best. Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, but He washed me white as snow.
Believe in Jesus, and call out to Him, and He will save you just because He loves you. He loves you so much, He got on your cross to pay your debt. When you give your life to Jesus, you become His, and you become an adopted child of the Creator of the Universe. This is His story written out in our hearts.
--Johnie
