What A Difference Jesus Makes

Introduction

Illustration: An illiterate couple had just been saved.

They met with a group of believers who dressed alike.

The men wore red shirts while engaged in a certain project, so the woman made one for her husband.

He came home after the meeting, however, with a look of disappointment on his face because the others had a message printed on their shirts but he did not.

His wife, undaunted by her inability to read, sewed three words on his shirt, which she copied from a sign in a store window across the street.

He wore it to the next meeting and came home bubbling with joy. He said all of the men really liked the inscription because it so aptly described the wonderful change they had seen in his life.

It turned out that his wife had written, "UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT."

This brother knew he was different and so did everyone around him.

That’s what Jesus does!

He makes a difference in all those who come to Him.

There is a verse in the Bible that speaks to this thought, Jeremiah 13:23, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?"

The truth is, man is a sinner, lost and undone, separated from God by a wide chasm of sin.

He needs something done in his life that he will never be able to do for himself.

He needs what Jesus and Jesus alone can do.

It is Jesus who makes the difference in the lives of fallen men.

This passage is all about the great difference that Jesus makes in the hearts and lives of fallen men.

As God gives liberty this evening, I want us to look together at these verses and consider for a few minutes, “What A Difference Jesus Makes.”

Please stand as we honor the Word of God.

Scripture

Prayer

1. The Pitiful Nature of Man’s Sin

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. Ephesians 2:1-3

A. Lost Men Live A Wretched Life (verse 1)

They are dead and separated from God by a sea of sin, Isaiah 59:2.

Theirs is a wretched condition, Ephesians 2:12.

They are dead to God and to everything He represents and is able to do for them. They are Dead!

B. Lost Men Live A Wayward Live (verses 2-3a)

According to these verses, the lost man is not in control of his life.

Men have this great desire to control their own destiny, yet they are really just little pawns, pushed about by the whims of the flesh, the world and the devil. (John 8:44)

Every lost sinner is a wretched, wayward soul this evening. Isaiah 53:6.

The end of their waywardness is death. (Proverbs 16:25; Romans 6:23)

C. Lost Men Live A Life Under The Wrath Of God

(verse 3b)

John 3:36

At this very moment, every person outside of the shelter of the blood of Jesus is under the wrath of God.

The only thing that keeps you from dropping off into Hell at this very moment is the grace and mercy of Almighty God.

At this very moment, you stand at the edge of a great precipice with nothing between you and hell but God’s grace.

He doesn’t hate you, but He does hate your sin. His holiness demands that the sentence on sin be carried out, and it shall be, in His time and in His way!

D. What a Pitiful situation to be in!

Yet, you have neighbors, friend, family and acquaintances that are in this very shape tonight.

Some of you may be there. Lost and undone without Jesus and headed to Hell.

One thing is for sure, each of us has been there.

I remember it all too well!

That’s why I am grateful for those next two words: "But God!"

That is all that stands between the sinner and Hell this evening! Yet these two little words, "But God!" may just be the greatest in the entire Bible.

In them, we find the supply for our need, blessings without end and glories beyond description.

Not only do these verses speak of the Pitiful Nature Of Man’s Sin, but they also point out:

2. The Glorious Provisions of Our Savior (Verses 4-6)

A. He Gave Us Love (verse 4)

Great Love

God loves the sinner with an everlasting, undying, never ceasing love. Jeremiah 31:1; Romans 8:38-39

It was this great love of the Father that propelled Him to send His Son Jesus to die for our sins on the cross. It was this love that bound Jesus to that cross.