What’s Easter Really All About?

3/23/08

 

 

(The following was used with a PowerPoint presentation, the asterisks indicate slide changes.)

 

*What’s Easter Really All About?

 

*Jo. 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.

 

Pray

 

The purpose of this message is to make the plan of salvation crystal clear.

 

When you leave today there should be no doubt in your mind where you stand.

 

*1 Jo. 5:13 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.

 

You tell me, what’s more serious than where we will spend eternity?

 

*Heb. 9:27 …it is destined that each person dies only once and after that comes judgment…

 

Let’s look at some mistaken ideas.

 

*“It doesn’t matter what religion you believe in as long as you are sincere.”

 

It does matter!  Do you think the Islamic extremists aren’t sincere?

 

*Jo. 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

 

*“I believe in God, I know that makes me a Christian.”

 

Does it?

 

Todd, you showed me John 3:16…

 

*Jo. 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.

 

What does it really mean to believe?  What kind of belief is the Scripture speaking about?

 

*Ja. 2:19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. ²⁰ You foolish man…

 

Here’s another example of having a believing problem…

 

*Jo. 12:42 …many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; ⁴³for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

 

But Todd, faith is a private thing.  You might think it’s private, but Jesus doesn’t!

 

*Mat. 10:32 (NLT) “If anyone acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will openly acknowledge that person before my Father in heaven. ³³But if anyone denies me here on earth, I will deny that person before my Father in heaven.

 

Here’s another mistaken idea…

 

*“I’m sorry for the wrong things I’ve done.”

 

It’s good that you’re sorry, but sorry is not good enough!

 

Being sorry and genuine repentance is not the same thing.

 

*Lk. 13:3 …But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

 

*Mat. 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

 

There are five elements that make salvation complete.

 

*(Blank) Just as the human being is made up of body, soul and spirit; it’s the same with salvation.

 

If one of these five is missing then one of the other four wasn’t done right.

 

*I want you to know these five.

 

·        Believe

·        Repent

·        Receive

·        Confess

·        Ownership has changed

 

Let me give you something that will make this easy to remember…

 

*Picture with BRR-CO.

 

Believe

 

*Rom. 10:8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: ⁹ That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

 

Repent

 

*1 Jo. 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

 

Genuine repentance is genuine remorse.

 

You cannot genuinely believe in what Jesus did without having remorse for your sin.

 

*Lk. 18:9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax

 

*collector. ¹²I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

¹³“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

¹⁴“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

 

Receive

 

*Jo. 1:10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—¹³children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

 

It’s one thing to believe, it’s quite another to receive Him!

 

When I was a child my mom had a picture that I never forgot.

 

*Show the picture and…

 

Rev. 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

 

If you have really believed, repented, and received, then you will…

 

Confess

 

*Rom. 10:8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: ⁹ That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

 

If you don’t confess it, then you really don’t believe it!

 

You might believe it in your head but not in your heart!

 

*Acts 4:18 And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹ But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; ²⁰ for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

 

Ownership has been changed.

 

1 Cor. 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

 

*Pr. 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

 

If you don’t acknowledge Him in all your ways how can you say that ownership has been changed?

 

*(Blank) See how these five elements of salvation go together?

 

*Heb. 2:3 …how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?

 

Jesus paid an incredible price for our salvation.

 

*Is. 53:4 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. ⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was

 

*led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

 

We are going to have the Lord’s Supper today.  I can’t think of a better time to do it.

 

*1 Cor. 11:23 …The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this

 

*in remembrance of me.” ²⁵In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”