Jesus Paid It All

JESUS PAID IT ALL

1 Pet. 1:18-20

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: “4 worms in Church"

1. A minister decided to add a visual demonstration about the evil habits of modern society.

2. Four worms were placed into four separate jars.

a. 1st - put into a container of alcohol.

b. 2nd - put into a container of cigarette smoke.

c. 3rd - put into a container of chocolate syrup.

d. 4th - put into a container of good clean soil.

2. At the conclusion of the sermon on evil habits, the Minister reported the following results:

a. 1st worm in alcohol . . . . . .. Dead.

b. 2nd worm in cigarette smoke . . Dead!

c. 3rd worm in chocolate syrup . . . Dead!.

d. 4th worm in good clean soil . .Alive!

3. So the Minister asked the congregation, "So, my friends? What did you learn from this demonstration?"

4. Maxine, sitting in the back, quickly raised her hand and said, "As long as you drink, smoke and eat chocolate, you won't have worms!"

5. That pretty much ended the service!

I. THE PROBLEM OF DEBT

A. WOMAN WAS $50 BILLION IN DEBT!

1. In June 2021, Maddie McGivern got the shock of her life when she woke up and checked her bank balance and she was $50 billion in debt. [Newsweek, 3-4-22]

2. She called Chase bank and said, “Hi, I have a $50 billion deficit in my account, and I'm not sure why. I wish I could say I bought the city of Los Angeles, but I didn’t.” The Chase Rep said, “May I put you on hold? I've never seen this before.” Maddie said, “I was like, oh."

3. What if Maddie had actually owed that much? Could she have ever paid it back? We all know that it would be impossible. And yet, that’s the negative balance of every one of us in our “moral perfection” account.

B. OUR ENORMOUS DEBT

1. The Bible says in Rom. 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” It doesn’t say how far we “fall short,” but Jesus put a number to it in Matthew 18:24 as owing 10,000 years of work (one talent of gold was equivalent to one year’s wage). If interest were added, our stated debt could easily have amounted to $50 Billion!

2. So, we DO owe a debt similar to Maddie McGivern. How can we ever pay it off? We can’t! The Good News is, God He has made a way out for us.

C. ORIGINS OF OUR DEBT

1. It all started at a place called the Garden of Eden where our first parents rebelled against God. That Original Sin didn’t just separate us from God, it put into us a sinful nature. Every person is infected with the “germ” of sin, a “bent” toward evil.

2. The Lord Jesus said, “For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly” Mark 7:21-23.

3. Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things and BEYOND CURE. Who can understand it?” (17:9). If dogs get rabies or if Cows get brucellosis, there is no cure! The virus is so dangerous that the animals must be put down.

4. It’s the same with sin. It’s deadly, like cancer. The only solution is to kill it. There is no cure. John 3:18 says we’re “condemned already.” Sin enslaves us. Contaminates us, and separates us from God.

D. ALL OUR EFFORTS FAIL TO CHANGE US

1. Most folks think they’re pretty good people. Let’s suppose that a person only sins 3 times a day. Sounds like a pretty good person! But if that person lives to 80 years old (even giving them the 1st 5 years of innocence) that person will commit 82,125 sins in their lifetime! Imagine standing before God to account for over 80,000 sins!

2. David said in Ps. 40:12 that our sins are more in number than the hairs on our heads!

II. THE PRICE OF OUR REDEMPTION?

Peter said, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.” 1 Pet 1:18-20. To “redeem” is to “buy back” something.

A. WHAT COULD NOT REDEEM US

1. Peter said that the things humans value – silver, gold, etc – could not pay-off our debt. A rock or a piece of metal has no power effect on moral failure.