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.
• And so this seminary professor, loving his son as he did, sat by the bedside to watch this death vigil. It was the middle of the day and the little boy whose strength was going from him and whose vision and brain was getting clouded said, "Daddy, it’s getting dark isn’t it?" The professor said to his son, "Yes son it is getting dark, very dark." Of course it was very dark for him. He said, "Daddy, I guess it’s time for me to go to sleep isn’t it?"
• He said, "Yes, son, it’s time for you to go to sleep."
• The professor said the little fellow had a way of fixing his pillow just so, and putting his head on his hands when he slept and he fixed his pillow like that and laid his head on his hands and said, "Good night Daddy. I will see you in the morning." He then closed his eyes in death and stepped over into heaven.
• Dr. Criswell said the professor didn’t say anymore after that. He just looked out the window of that airplane for a long time. Then he turned back and he looked at Dr Criswell with the scalding tears coming down his cheeks and he said, "Dr. Criswell, I can hardly wait till the morning."
• Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me lives even though he dies.” (John 11:25).
• Isn’t it awesome to know that BECAUSE OF EASTER our loved ones…mother, father, grandparents, children, friends, relatives that knew the Lord…we will one day see them again.
So the question is, can you say that you’re not afraid to die because you know for certain where you’re going when you die?
• This is what Easter is all about.
• Jesus Christ broke the power of death and as a result that’s why we celebrate.
• He said, “I am the resurrection and the life and he who believes in Me shall never die.“
• Death means your body will come to an end but it will not be the end of you because you were made to last forever.
• For a Christian, Death is simply a transfer.
• God loves us so much that not even death can separate us from His love.
So there’s nothing you can do that will make God love you any more (or any less).
STATEMENT: Living he loved me, dying he saved me, buried he carried my sin far away, rising he justified, freely forever, and One day He’s coming. Oh glorious day!
But there’s a second thing God does not know…
2. GOD DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO IGNORE SIN
• If you want to know how bad sin is look at the cross.
• Sin will take the most perfect life that ever lived and drive nails in His hands and feet.
God loves you unconditionally.
• But God cannot ignore your sin and pretend it isn’t there.
• You see, God is perfect, and sin is disobedience to God. Therefore, God cannot compromise with it. The Bible says…
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. --Rom. 6:23 (NIV)
ILLUS: Everyone’s eyes were upon the judge. He looked up and slowly pronounced the judgment. "Bonnie Jean, I find you guilty and hereby fine you the maximum possible: $10,000. The courtroom gasped in astonishment. The judge then got up, took off his robe and walked to the front of the bench. Taking out his checkbook, he wrote a check for the full amount. Turning to the courtroom, the judge said, "This is my daughter and even though I love her, I cannot overlook what she has done. Her actions still must be punished."
• Even though God loves us, He cannot overlook the fact that sin had been committed.
• The penalty for this sin must be paid in full.
• This is what happened when Jesus was on the cross.
• He took the full punishment for our sins.
• If we personally accept this remedy for our sins, we will not be required to pay the penalty ourselves.
That means if you will accept Jesus’ payment for sin, you can have eternal life in heaven!
POWERFUL THOUGHT: Right now, I want you to think of the most hideous, horrendous sin you have ever committed.
• Do you have it? Do you remember it?
• Now I want you to understand that it was THAT sin that God the Father saw when He looked down from Heaven and saw the cross of Calvary.
• It was for all of those despicable sins you and I committed that Jesus took them into His perfect body and died upon the cross.
Everyone who has sinned must go to Hell.
• All sins are serious and have serious consequences.
• It does not matter if you told a lie or murdered someone.
• It doesn’t matter if you’ve committed one sin or committed a million.
• God’s judgment of us will not be based on how we compare to other people, rather, it will be based on how we compare to His standard.
A six-foot tall man is much taller than a four-foot tall man. The difference is quite obvious. Yet, when you compare these two men next to a 60’ foot light post, the men look quite similar in height. Likewise, when you compare a "good" person next to Hitler, we can see a major difference. However, when you compare them against God’s high standard, the difference between Hitler and the "good" person shrinks tremendously. Therefore, if you have committed one sin, you are destined to Hell. The only way a person can enter Heaven is by receiving the atonement offered by Jesus.
And that leads us to a third thing God does not know...
3. GOD DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO TURN AWAY A REPENTANT HEART
Maybe you think, “God couldn't love me. I'm not good enough.”
• But God isn’t in the business of saving good people…just people who are truly repentant.
• You see, God has promised 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.” --Rom. 10:9-11 (NIV)
• When we think of Good Friday – too often I think we forget that there was not just one cross there that day – there were THREE
• Luke 23:33 says, “And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, on the right hand and the other on the left.”
• So there was more than one cross and there was more than one crucifixion.
• There was a cross of Redemption There was a cross of Reception and There was a cross of Rejection
• Someone has observed that Jesus didn’t die in a cathedral between two candles, He died on a cross between two criminals
• Three men died on a cross that day:
• One was a Benefactor One was a Blasphemer One was a Believer.
• One was a Savior One was a Sinner One was a Saint.
• On that day one man died on the WRONG side of Jesus and another man died on the RIGHT side of Jesus.
• And folks – the way that he got right is the way that we must get right.
• That second thief saw something about himself in those last minutes of his life…he saw his own sinfulness.
• He realized that it was his sin that had nailed him to the cross—but more than that—he realized that it was his sin that nailed JESUS to the cross.
• The reason why this thief was saved is because he finally realized he was lost.
• Now he didn’t have anything to offer Jesus…He couldn’t make any kind of trade…All he could say was: In my hand no price I bring, Simply to the cross I cling.
• But I want you to notice that this man was not saved by good works, for he didn't have any.
• He was not saved by church membership, he never joined one.
• He was not saved by baptism, he did not have time.
• All he had was God's grace, and his faith.
• “And Jesus said to him, assuredly I say to you…today you will be with me in paradise.”
• The last person Jesus saw on earth was the first person Jesus welcomed in heaven.
• Has it ever occurred to you that the first person that Jesus ever took to heaven was a murderous, cut-throat thief, who was saved in the dying moments of his life.
• I believe that is just God's way of telling us that Jesus can save anybody, any time, at any place.
• This thief is the classic illustration of Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."
• Salvation is not in the merit of man. It is in the mercy of God.
• It is not in the goodness of man. It is in the grace of God.
• Salvation is not a reward for the righteous. It is a gift for the guilty.
• God has given His word that if you will come to him with a repentant heart, he will save you so you can spend eternity with Him in heaven.
• There is no person so good that he need not be saved, but there is no person so bad that he cannot be saved.
Now there’s a fourth thing God does not know…
4. GOD DOES NOT KNOW ANOTHER WAY YOU CAN BE SAVED
This will upset the politically correct crowd. We live in a culture of tolerance unless one believes there is only one way to be saved. Oprah wouldn't like my saying this.
John 14:6 does it for me. "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me."
• I don't need to read or hear anything else. God has chosen to save the world through Christ.
• The Bible says, "There is one mediator..." How many mediators? One. Just one! "Between God and man, the man Christ Jesus."
If you could get to Heaven by being a good person – Jesus would have never had to die.
• You may be a moral person with wholesome values.
• You may be a good citizen who abides by the Golden Rule.
• But those things, while good, won’t save you. Only Jesus can. God’s Word plainly states that…
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” --Acts 4:12 (NIV)
• Our only hope in getting to heaven is to call upon Jesus...
• And if you do, God promises that… “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” --Rom. 10:13 (NIV)
• When Jesus was on the cross, the last statement He made was “It is finished”
• The one and only payment that would allow the one and only access to God and Heaven was made.
• But In the Tomb of Triumph, Jesus made a SILENT REMINDER that “it was finished.”
• READ JOHN 20:6-7, “Simon Peter therefore also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he beheld the linen wrappings lying there, and the face cloth which had been on his head, not lying by the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.”
• Why did John point out so much detail as to how Jesus left his burial clothes in the tomb?
• What did Jesus do for an occupation before he entered ministry? Carpentry.
• EXPLAIN: Carpenter’s had interesting custom.
• Jesus was leaving a silent reminder that IT WAS FINISHED.
• That’s why the Bible says, “If we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God has raised him from the dead then you shall be saved.”
• You see…this is the paramount difference between Jesus and the rest of the founders of the world religions.
• Those guys lived, they died…and they are dead….Jesus lived, Jesus died, and Jesus rose from the dead.
• Buddha…he’s still in the tomb…Confucious…he’s still in the tomb…Mohammed…he’s still tomb / BUT Jesus Christ of Nazareth… His grave is empty. He is Alive and is seated on the right hand of God!!!
• ILLUS: A buddhist in Africa was converted to Christianity. They asked this buddhist why did you change your faith? Here’s what he said: “It’s like this: If you are walking along and came to a fork in the road and two men were there, and one was dead and the other was alive, which man’s directions would you follow?”
Most people make the mistake of thinking that church is all about religion.
• God hates man’s religion. What separates Christianity from Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and all the other world beliefs is that they all are attempts to reach upwards to God.
• However, Christianity is the only religion that has God reaching down to man. There is a big difference between man’s religion and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Religion says “Try” but the gospel says “trust.”
Religion says, “Pay me what you owe,” the gospel says, “I’ll pay what you owe”
Religion says, “Live for God,” the gospel says, “Live through God.”
Religion says, “Obey the law,” but the gospel says, “Obey the Lord”
Religion says “Do,” but the gospel says “Done”
Religion says “Attain righteousness,” the gospel says “Accept righteousness”
Religion says “My way is the right way,” the gospel says “God’s way is the only way”
Religion says “Salvation is in a formula,” the gospel says, “Salvation is by faith”
Religion says “Believe something,” but the gospel says, “Receive someone!”
You don’t need dead rituals, you don’t need dry religion, what you need is a Divine Resurrected Redeemer and His name is Jesus Christ!
But there’s one last thing God does not know…
5. GOD DOES NOT KNOW A BETTER TIME TO BE SAVED THAN RIGHT NOW!
• You are living on borrowed time right now.
• There is a danger of a hardened heart if you procrastinate.
• There is a danger that you may die before you get saved.
• There is a danger than Jesus may come back at any moment.
• The Bible says, "Behold now is the accepted time. Today is the day of salvation."
Today is the day to be saved. Now is the accepted time.
• Many people justify their excuse by saying, "Well, I’m just not ready to make that decision. Not today," but what they are really saying is "No."
• When a person says, "not now" to Jesus, he is really saying, "Jesus, as far as right now is concerned you are a liar. Jesus, as far as right now is concerned, I don't want to have anything to do with your plan of salvation. Jesus, as far as right now is concerned, I reject you totally."
You have no guarantee of living beyond this moment. That’s why God’s Word says:
…now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. --2 Cor. 6:2 (NIV)
As far as God is concerned, to say "Not now,' in God's eyes is saying "no" forever.
• For God knows you may not have another time.
• For some, God realizes that this is their last opportunity to be saved.
• It's a slap in the face of a Holy God to say, "God, You wait on me. I'll come around someday, maybe. If you are a good enough God, I'll come see you later."
Your eternity is worth thinking about.
• "This is the way to have eternal life - by knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ, the one he sent to earth!" John 17:3 (LB)
• One of the universal problems we've all got is death.
• Everybody dies. I'm going to die someday and so are you.
• Only a fool would go all through life unprepared for something he knows is inevitable. That doesn't make sense.
ILLUS: In 1929 a man named George Wilson robbed a mail carrier and killed him. He was sentenced to die, but received a pardon from the President of the United States. But to the shock of the oval office, he rejected the pardon. The President of the United States had set him free…but George Wilson said “NO!”
• The case went to the Supreme Court and the issue was simply this: If the President gives you a pardon, aren’t you pardoned? – can you reject a pardon given by a Sovereign.
• Chief Justice Marshall rendered the decision. And it simply said: “A pardon rejected is no pardon at all. Unless the recipient of the pardon accepts the pardon, then the pardon cannot be applied.”
• Not because it was not truly offered… but a pardon has 2 sides to it: the OFFERER and the OFFEREE – unless the offeree accepts the pardon from the Offerer, then the pardon cannot be mandated.
• On the cross, the eternal God – having been satisfied by the death of his Son has offered every man, woman, boy, and girl a pardon.
• John 3:16, “For God so loved the world…”
• He’s offering a pardon – but in order for the pardon to be effective, the pardon must be accepted.
• So which side of the cross are you on?
• Are you on the side that will come to Jesus Christ? You only have 2 choices – to receive from Christ the forgiveness that He offers.
• Or do you simply say, “I’ll do it my way.”
• Broad is the road that leads to destruction and many there will be on it. Narrow is the road that leads to eternal life and few will find it.
If you already are saved…
• You already know your sins have been forgiven and you’re on your way to Heaven
• How grateful does God know that you are for the price that He’s paid to secure your eternal destiny?
• Let me say it another way: If you belong to Jesus Christ today – however messed up your life is – this is the only Hell you’ll ever have.
• If you’re here today and you’d say, “My life is hell…then praise God because this is the only hell you’ll ever know.”
• Because there is an eternal destiny awaiting you that is staggering!
• If you’re here today and you don’t know Christ, this life is the only Heaven you’ll ever know.
• Maximize every moment and don’t lose a second because you’ll never see this Heaven again.
• Better to have hell on earth than to have hell in eternity.
• Which side of the cross are you on?
ILLUS: Charles Murray was preparing for the summer Olympics. He was a student at the University of Cincinnati. Because Charlie had never been in a religious family and never gone to church, when he met his first Christians and they started talking to him about how much God cared about him and God wanted to have a relationship with Him, he was honestly quite skeptical. But he was interested. So over the semester, he talked to his Christian friend about God’s love, God’s plan and God’s rescue and how much he mattered to God. One night he decided to call his Christian friend up. He said, “Tell me again those verses in the Bible that says God cares about me.” And his friend shared those verses.
After he hung up he decided to go over to the school pool to do some practice diving. Because he was preparing for the Olympics, he had special privileges and he could use the pool even when it was closed. At the University of Cincinnati, it is an enclosed pool and of course the lights were off because it was closed but it has a glass ceiling and there was a full moon that night and he could at least see his way to get in. He climbed up the top of the diving platform, turned around to do his first dive backwards and stretched out his arms. When he did that the moonlight coming through the ceiling shown his shadow on the wall and formed the shape of a cross. He looked at that and for the first time Charlie felt God’s love. He realized that Christ had died for him. That is how much God loved him. And in that moment on the twenty-plus feet diving platform, he sat down and opened his life to God. He said, “Jesus Christ, come into my life and make a difference in my life,” and he became a follower right there twenty feet up. He was setting there in the dark when, about five minutes later, a janitor walked in and suddenly flipped on the light. It startled Charlie. He got up and as he looked down he saw that the pool had been emptied for repairs. He mattered to God.
You and I cannot comprehend HOW MUCH God cares about you.
You have no idea
You cannot comprehend it.
Why not bow your head this very minute and pray:
Dear God,
I confess that I am a sinner, and I know that you cannot ignore my sin. So today I repent and call on Jesus Christ to save me. I believe Jesus died for me on the cross and arose again on the third day. And I want to follow Him for the rest of my life and into eternity. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
