Someone once asked Albert Einstein about his view of God, and he replied “I want to know God’s thoughts. The rest are details.” He wanted to know God’s thoughts, and he wanted to know that because – if he knew how God thought, He’d understand life.
Albert Einstein once took a trip by train, and when the conductor stopped to punch his ticket he found Einstein on his hands and knees searching under the seats for something. Einstein explained that he’d lost his ticket. The conductor smiled and said “Dr. Einstein, please, don’t worry about it. I know who you are.”
Einstein looked up and said, “I, too, know who I am. What I don’t know is where I’m going.”
Einstein knew WHO he was - he just didn’t know WHERE he was going. And, the intriguing thing about our text today, is that it tells us that God knows WHO we are as well, and He knows WHERE we’re going.
“The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18). God knows if you’re perishing (if you’re going to hell), and God knows if you are being saved (if you’re going to heaven).
Now notice, there’s ONE THING that makes the difference. ONE THING that determines your destiny. And that ONE THING that makes that difference - is the Cross.
Paul wrote “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ (is) the power of God and the WISDOM of God.” I Corinthians 1:23-24
So the CROSS OF CHRIST --- is the wisdom of God. If you want to know what God thinks, you’ve got to understand the cross. Once you understand WHY the cross was necessary, then you’ll know the MIND OF GOD. If - like Einstein, you want to know God’s thoughts - this is it! Christ (on the cross) sums up God’s thoughts. Everything else in the Bible points to Calvary. If you miss that… you miss the whole point of the Bible.
ILLUS: Years ago, a 12 year old boy named Ray came to me and asked to be baptized. I knew Ray, and I thought - “this is going to be no-brainer.” Ray was a smart likeable kid. He regularly attended church and youth group. His grand-dad was a church trustee and his Great-grand-dad was a church Elder. I mean, if anyone should understand the cross… Ray should!
But (as is my custom) I asked him a couple of questions just to make sure he knew the importance of the decision he was making. So, the first question I asked him was this: Why do you want to get baptized? He answered “It’ll make me feel better” (PAUSE) That wasn’t quite the answer I was looking for, so I asked him another question: “When you think about Jesus… Who do you think He was?” and he responded: “He was a very nice man.”
And I said “Raymond, I don’t think you understand what this is all about. I tell you what… I’ve got this 5-part video series (VCR tapes) that talks about the Bible and how to become a Christian. Would you like to watch it with me?” And he got all excited about that.
So I took the 1st video to his home and he and his mom sat down to watch it.His dad worked a “swing-shift” and had to leave about ½ way through the video to go to work, but he watched it while he could. When we finished the video, Ray asked if he could keep it and watch it again. during the week. “Of course” I said. But when I came back the next week to show video #2 there was Raymond with 3 of his friends. They’d watched the 1st video that week… and they wanted to watch it again and ask questions. WELL SURE, I could do that.
So, we watched the FIRST video again, and then met for the few weeks to watch the others. And when we watched the fourth video - that video talked about the fact that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and how important it was for us to respond by having faith in Jesus, repentance of our sins, confession of Jesus as our Lord, and being baptized into Christ.
That night we baptized Raymond, 2 of his friends, and his dad.
Now why did they want to be baptized into Christ? Well, they now understood the cross and they realized that their destiny would be determined by how they responded. Do you remember the verse that says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever should believe in Him should not…” SHOULD NOT WHAT? “Should not perish but have everlasting life.” Jesus came to die on the cross so that you and I could have eternal life. If we don’t believe that Jesus died on the cross for us, and we don’t accept Him on His terms, we’re not gonna make it to heaven. The cross is what determines our destiny, because the Cross is the wisdom of God, and it’s the power of God.
Now, as I said earlier, if you want to know WHAT God thinks, you’ve got to understand the cross, because once you understand WHY the cross was necessary, then you’ll know the mind of God. So, why WAS it necessary? Why was it necessary for Jesus to die on the cross for us? Well, 1 Peter 2:24 tells us that “(Christ) himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”
In other words – you can’t die to pay for your own sins and then live for righteousness on your own. WHOA! What do you mean I can’t do this on my own?
ILLUS: (We showed a “justice” or “balance” scale on the screen – one side having the the scale holding the word “Bad” and the other “Good”) This is called a “Balance Scale”. As you can see, one side is weighted down with “BAD” deeds the other side weighted with “GOOD” deeds. When a person has done “BAD” things… they feel the weight of those sins. Their lifestyle leads them to feel shame, guilt, doubt and self-hatred. BUT most people believe that - if they could just do enough “GOOD” deeds - then they could balance out the BAD deeds they’ve committed in their lives.
Now, there’s a couple problems with that mindset. 1st - I can’t really know when I’ve done enough good to outweigh the bad. Even when I do all kinds of good deeds, the guilt and shame of sin still overwhelms me at times, because I haven’t really removed the sin from the scales. The sin is still there. It doesn’t just disappear.
2nd - And if I’ve messed up badly enough I’m doomed. How can I undo the really evil stuff in my past? I mean, when I sin that badly, I can hardly forgive myself for what I’ve done… so, how can I expect God to forgive me?
And the Bible says – you’re right! You can’t fix it! You cannot remove your own sins. Even if you do all kinds of good things in your life, your good things WILL NOT remove the bad you’ve done. It’s still there!
That’s why the Ephesians 2:1-5 says that (before you became Christians) “You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience … and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved.”
Essentially God says – “You can’t fix it… but I can! I can take away your sin!" So that whatever good you may do from that time on will be pleasing to God, but you don’t have to worry about paying off the debt of sin. You won’t have to try to buy His love with those good things anymore.
Now, that’s GOOD NEWS. And why is it Good News? Because it’s only natural for us to believe that only “GOOD” people deserve to go to heaven. So (when people think that only good people deserve to go to heaven) if you aren’t GOOD ENOUGH… you’re not going to make it.
ILLUS: Not so long ago I read something on the internet. There was an atheist who was commenting about his scorn of John 3:16-17. That passage says: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” He felt that those verses taught “that evil people go to heaven as long as they believe.”
Now, that’s kind of a bald way of stating what that passage says… and yet it’s true.
But that doesn’t seem quite right, does it? Evil people should be punished, and good people should be rewarded – thus, only good people should go to heaven. And that’s what annoyed that atheist. How dare the Bible teach that people (who’ve done evil things) get to go to heaven - that’s just not right!
But the atheist missed the whole point of Jesus’ ministry, and the message of Christianity. Jesus said: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5:31–32)
The Gospels repeatedly show Jesus spending his time with “tax collectors and sinners” … not with the righteous men of the day. And the repeated theme throughout the New Testament is that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). God says none of us is good enough to be good enough to go to heaven.
But John 3:16 is basically saying God doesn’t want anyone to perish, but that all should come to repentance… even people like you and I. And even people like that atheist who mocked John 3:16-17.
GOD IS IMPRESSED with people who don’t make apologies for their sin. He’s impressed with people who WANT to leave their sinful past and abandon the lifestyles that God says are wrong. God wants them to turn to Him for forgiveness.
That’s why Proverbs 3:7-8 says “Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.”
And Acts 3:19-20 says “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”
God promises forgiveness to those who’ve sinned (and we HAVE all sinned all fall short of the glory of God) if we repent and turn away from evil. God is not impressed with OUR “self-righteousness” because none of us is righteous enough to earn a place in heaven. But He IS impressed with a repentant heart.
And because that’s true, we Christians should view heaven, not as a right, but as a PRIVILEGE that we don’t deserve. And, because we KNOW that is true, it’s hard for us to shut up about the love of God - a God who was willing to pay the price for ALL our sins and give us hope for a future we do not deserve.
Our Jesus is the God of 2nd chances. Which is why John 3:17 says "God DID NOT send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
CLOSE: An evangelist told of a Revival where a woman approached him after the crowds had gone home. It was obvious she had been crying through much of the revival service, and she explained that she had a desire to become a Christian, but she just couldn’t understand how God could forgive her and accept her. For some reason, the evangelist felt he should ask her if she recalled any scripture. At that point she said yes: “For God so loved the world that he gave His only FORGOTTEN son.” Noting that she had substituted “forgotten” for “begotten” he realized what he could say to help her. He asked “Do you know why God forgot His son?” “No,” she replied. And the preacher answered her: “He forgot His son because He wanted to remember you.”
INVITATION
