Five Things God Does Not Know

5 Things God Does Not Know

Easter Message 2009

INTRO:

• Easter is all about changed lives.

• STATEMENT: The empty tomb is God’s receipt that the payment for your sins has been made in full!

• The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ may be the FOCUS of Christianity; But it is the empty tomb that is the FOUNDATION of Christianity.

• QUOTE: James Kennedy said, "The evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ has been examined more carefully than the evidence for any other fact in history."

• The message of Easter is the message of the Gospel.

• So in sharing with you the Easter message of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – I want to show you 5 things that God does not know.

• Now, we know that God knows everything about everything.

• That means you can never tell God a secret or surprise Him.

• He knows it all!

• God is OMNISCIENT which means that He is “All Knowing.”

• In fact, God knows everything about YOU.

• He knows when you went to bed last night, how many hairs are on your head, and even the number of heartbeats you have left.

But it may surprise you to learn that there are FIVE THINGS GOD DOES NOT KNOW...

1. GOD DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO LOVE YOU MORE THAN HE ALREADY DOES

True love is always sacrificial.

• If you want to know whether somebody really loves you, find out what he or she is willing to sacrifice for you.

• A long time ago, I read something that left a indelible mark on my mind: It goes like this:

I asked Jesus how much He loved me He answered "this much" Then He stretched out His arms and died for me.

Jesus stretched out His arms so wicked people could nail Him to a cross. That's how much He loves us.

He stretched out His arms to take on the sins of the entire world.

That's how much He loves us.

He stretched out His arms so His blood could be spilled as a sacrifice.

That's how much He loves us.

He stretched out His arms so we wouldn't have to.

That's how much He loves us.

The Cross of Christ is the clearest, loudest, most powerful "I love you!" ever proclaimed.

• It's hard for me to love child abusers, but God loves them.

• God even loves people with poor demented minds.

• I don't care how evil and rotten a person has been.

• Whatever a person has done, God still loves him.

“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” --Romans 5:8 (NIV)

ILLUS: A father and son were traveling down a country road on afternoon in the spring time when suddenly a bee flew in the window. Being deathly allergic to bee stings, the boy began to panic as the bee buzzed all around inside the car. Seeing the horror on his child’s face, the father reached out and caught the bee in his hand. Soon, he opened his hand and the bee began to buzz around once again. Again, the boy began to panic. The father reached over to his son, and opened his hand showing him the stinger still in his palm. “Relax, son,” the father said, “I took the sting, the bee can’t hurt you anymore.”

The empty tomb is God’s way of saying to us; “Relax, my child, I took the sting, death can’t hurt you anymore.”

• “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:4-5)

ILLUS: I have heard that possums are smart animals.

• You wouldn’t think so because you hardly ever see one except when it’s dead on the road.

• There’s a joke that goes, “why did the chicken cross the road? To prove to the possum that it could be done!”

• But possums, it turns out, are smart. They won’t enter a hole if there’s just one set of tracks going into it. They know there’s something in there.

• But if there are two sets of tracks. The possum will enter and not be afraid.

• The message of Easter is that we can enter the grave - we don’t have to fear death because there are tracks leading out of the tomb.

• Paul preached the proclamation of Easter - “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55)

ILLUS: Dr. W. A Criswell, Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas Texas, said on one occasion on an airplane flight he found himself seated beside a well-known theologian. He desperately wanted to start a conversation and they did get to talk. The man told Dr. Criswell about how he had recently lost his little boy through death. Dr. Criswell listened as he told his story: He said he had come home from school with a fever and we thought it was just one of those childhood things, but it was a very virulent form of meningitis. The doctor said we cannot save your little boy. He’ll die.