I might have to move from this spot because there's going to be visuals with this sermon
and I'm not sure if I can stand here with the overhead on, but we'll find out in a moment.
Sometimes a few words can make all of the difference.
Sometimes a few words can make all of the difference in the world.
Some of you have heard before the story of how I came to ask Louise to marry me.
I know that it was in the late afternoon.
I wish I could remember the time precisely.
I know that it was the 15th of May, 1981.
So for the purpose of this, let's say it was 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, I said to Louise,
Louise, will you marry me?
Just five words.
Louise, will you marry me?
Five simple words.
And she's right about most things and she claims that she just waited a few seconds.
I'm sure it was like 15 minutes.
It felt like forever.
I wouldn't have asked her to marry me if I didn't think she'd say yes.
But of course, there's always that little bit of a doubt that she might say no.
And then she said to me very properly, she said, you should be on your knees.
And I thought about that for a few seconds and I knew that she was worth it.
And so I got on my knees and I asked a second time, Louise, will you marry me?
And then I'm sure there was a 15 minute wait.
But she says it was only a few seconds and she's probably correct.
And then she said yes.
And, you know, if that all happened at 4 o'clock, I know it was the late afternoon of the 15th of May, 1981.
Life for Louise and me was very different at 3.55 on the 15th of May than it was at 4.05 in the 15th of May.
And the difference hanged around five simple words and then the response of yes.
Today, I'm going to do something which is a little bit different for me and for this church.
I'm going to share with you very briefly the basic Christian story.
And at the end of sharing with you the very basic Christian story,
I'm going to invite those who have not invited Jesus into their life to invite Jesus into their life.
Some of you might have been coming to this church for a while and you've heard sermons on this and on that.
And maybe you're like me, that you felt, you know, quite a few years ago,
you felt an increasing drawing and attraction towards Christ.
And you just weren't maybe quite sure how to sort of close the deal or how to cross that threshold
or how to turn the corner.
And it's my privilege and honor to share with you the Christian story
and then at the end of it just describe briefly how you turn that corner.
And at the same time as I do this, I'm going to also be sharing for those of us who are Christians
how it is that you share the gospel.
You know, first of all, the thing we have to understand fundamentally is that there's only one evangelist.
It's not Billy Graham.
It's not the Pope.
There's only one evangelist and it's God.
God is the one whose Holy Spirit moves in lives and draws people to himself.
And so the first thing I'd like to encourage each of you is those of you who have given your life to Christ,
that you have a fundamental obligation to pray for people who have not yet come to faith in Jesus.
Just pray for them.
Maybe it's some cousins.
Maybe it's some family members.
Maybe it's your best friend.
Maybe it's some of your people you work with.
Or just God has put people in your path and he's calling you to pray for them
that they will come to saving faith in Jesus Christ.
And I would just like to encourage you that you do that.
And then maybe one day after you've been praying for your best friend,
maybe you go back home to work for four months
and you've decided you're going to pray for your best friend
and you're working with your best friend.
And then one of the scariest things in the world happens
three and a half months after you've been praying for them.
One day during lunch they say,
you're a Christian, eh?
And you say, yeah, I'm a Christian.
And they say, like, what's this Christian thing all about?
And what would you have to do to become a Christian?
And for many people that would be one of the scariest things that could happen.
Somebody asked you that question
and now you have to sort of give a bit of an answer.
And, well, maybe what we'll do today will help you with that.
If you could put the first thing up, Kendra.
One of the things, this little model that I'm going to be sharing with you
is something that was actually developed by an Anglican.
He's now the Dean of the Cathedral in Sydney, Australia.
And his name is Philip Jensen.
And sometimes if you want to share the gospel with something,
something that can be very helpful is if you have a pen with you
and there's some napkins and stuff around,
you can just draw a couple of simple little pictures
which will help to communicate the story which you're telling.
And if you're really, really, really, really, really on top of it,
you can have some Bible verses that you've memorized
because it's always helpful to be able to try to show people
that it's not just you making this up,
but it's ultimately God's Word.
In your bulletins, there's an insert
which gives you these different diagrams
which Nat has kindly generated for me.
So if you just have this little napkin,
you just sort of write this big crown
and a person standing there on the earth.
And the Christian story begins with this,
that God was originally, God is the one who's created all things.
And when God created all things in the original creation,
it was wonderful.
God had his kingly rule and authority over the entire created order
and the entire created order was completely and utterly at peace.
Humans would have been in complete communion with God,
perfect fellowship with God, closeness with God.
The book of Genesis even describes it in the terms of a wonderful picture story
that it would be as if every day God came from heaven and said,
George, let's go for a walk.
And it would be as if your very best friend,
the best friend you could ever possibly imagine,
just wanted to go for a little stroll with you
in an absolutely beautiful setting
and just chat about your day.
And this picture from the book of Genesis describes what was the original intention in creation.
The book of Revelation, which describes the final things,
has this simple verse which describes what was originally intended.
It's Revelation chapter 4, verse 11.
And if you'd like to try to follow along as I started,
we're going to look at one scripture verse with each of these pictures.
And it's on page 1063 if you're using your pew Bibles.
And it's Revelation chapter 4, verse 11.
And here's angels are singing this hymn of praise.
And they sing,
See, so here you have, in a sense, the original picture that God has created all things.
His kingly rule goes throughout all the created things.
And there's just harmony and there's peace.
And God is acknowledged as God.
Well, if there's one thing we all know, beyond any shadow of a doubt,
that that's not the way the world is today.
Far from it.
You just have to, you can't read the newspaper or listen to the news
or even look at your own life in the mirror
and know that that does not describe the way that the world is today.
Kendra, if you could put up the second slide.
The second picture shows what's happened to human beings.
And one of the things which God created in us human beings is freedom, free will.
And we human beings have used our free will to turn our back in God.
And in fact, we've turned our back on God
and we've decided that we're going to live as if God doesn't exist.
And we want to be the rulers and the kings of our own lives.
In a sense, we've said,
God doesn't exist and I want his job.
And that's the motto of human beings.
God doesn't exist and I want his job.
And so in this picture, we can see the big crown representing God.
And before there was God and people over the earth.
And now we have God crossed off.
The earth is still there.
And human beings are off to the side with their own little tiny crown.
And we walk through this life being our own kings and our own rulers.
And there's two Bible verses which talk about this.
More than two, but these two sort of point you to it.
The first one is a very hard verse and it's very hard for people to accept.
But it's Romans chapter 3, verses 10 through 12.
If you want to use your pew Bibles, it's page 976.
And Paul here is quoting from the Old Testament.
And here's what it says.
Page 976, Romans 3, verses 10 to 12.
As it is written,
It's a very, very hard text.
But it's trying to describe how human beings, there's every human being is like this.
They've in a sense put a big X through God and his authority.
And we've decided that we will have a crown that we put over our own heads.
And we will walk around as if we are little gods.
Just continue in Romans chapter 3.
Look at verse 23.
And this sort of brings the matter home.
Romans 3, 23.
A simple verse, easy to memorize.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Now, what's the consequence?
Kendra, if you could put up the third one.
What's the consequence of us using our freedom to turn our back on God?
I'm no scientist.
You all know that.
I'm an arts guy.
But if I was to have a table here as a demonstration,
and I was to have six or seven or eight pieces of iron,
and I was to pick up one of the pieces of iron and press it to another piece of iron,
nothing would happen.
If I picked up the piece that I'm holding, I pick it up, the iron just stays there.
Iron doesn't connect to iron unless it's glued or welded or something.
But if I was to take a very powerful magnet,
and I was to reach down and put that magnet on a piece of iron,
the magnet would pick up the piece of iron.
And then, I know enough science to know this,
that if I was to then take the magnet holding the iron,
and I was to touch a second piece of iron,
the magnetism flows through the magnet into the iron,
and in fact, it can pick up a second piece of iron.
Now, there's engineers here,
and some of you folks, you could tell me,
depending, I guess, on the quality of the iron
and the power of the magnet,
how many pieces of iron we could pick up.
And every piece of iron would be picked up,
all because that very first iron, piece of iron,
is firmly connected to the magnet.
And what Christians believe is this,
that when we human beings turned our back on God
and we decided to be our own kings and our own gods,
that's what's called sin.
It's called rebellion.
It means that evil has entered into the world.
And it's because of that that we have disunity,
we have crime,
that we, in a sense,
are inwardly broken ourselves,
and that we know within ourselves
that things aren't just right within ourselves,
and it's not right within the world,
and it all flows,
not because of God,
but because we, as human beings,
turned our backs on God
and have decided to live on our own terms.
And one of the consequences of that decision,
beyond evil,
is actually even the existence of death,
because,
and you imagine this piece of,
you can imagine the magnet,
you can imagine the iron,
and if I was to take that first piece of iron
and I was to pull it away from the magnet,
what happens?
All of the iron falls apart.
And so that when we turned our back on God
and then evil enters into the world
and death follows from that,
as our soul lost its communion with God,
then all of the breaking,
including ultimately the breaking of our body
from our soul,
which is death,
that was to enter into the world,
and death is a sign
of our rebellion against God.
And it's also a pointer
to the possibility
that we could spend,
that that could be, in a sense,
the final word about us,
that on into eternity,
that we would be,
in a sense,
under God's judgment,
that brokenness and diminishment
would be the final word about us
under his judgment,
that death would only be
the beginning of the final word about us.
Now, friends,
if that was on one level,
there is nothing more real about the world
than what I've just described.
If there's one thing
that is incontrovertibly true,
is that there is death,
that death seems to rule,
that there is sin,
and that no matter what type of perfect system
has been developed,
it doesn't seem to deal with these fundamental conditions,
and that there are no perfect people.
And if all I was able to share with you,
and even though I could show
that it was empirically true,
it would be the worst news in the world.
But the Christian story
is called the good news,
not the bad news.
It's the gospel,
not depression.
And the good news
comes with this fourth slide,
and that is,
and by the way,
in that earlier slide,
we saw the little tiny crown
over the person,
and the person that was,
the person was lying dead.
That was what I was trying to describe.
In the fourth picture here,
we see God's plan.
And in God's plan,
he sends his son Jesus to earth.
Throughout the years,
God had sent different prophets
to warn people
to turn from their ways
and to make a promise
that someday one
who would come from God
who would be the mighty deliverer.
And Christians believe
that God had this plan
to send this mighty deliverer.
And this person, Jesus,
was one who was able
to perform mighty miracles.
And he was able
to talk of God
in intimate terms.
And he was able
to clearly express
what was right and wrong.
And his teaching
and his stories
had great power.
But ultimately,
as we saw
in the gospel text today,
Jesus,
and Jesus came,
and he is the only person
who's ever lived
completely and utterly
a perfect life.
He lived under
the kingly authority
and rule of God.
And he never sought
his own tiny crown.
He never sought
to turn his back on God.
But he lived
a perfect life
of obedience
under God's kingly rule.
And in that context,
he performed miracles.
He did many,
many mighty things.
And yet,
the very same man
who could walk on water,
who could feed thousands
from a few loaves of bread,
the very, very same man
who could speak a word
and call a dead man
back to life,
the very, very same man
who could do all
of these things,
he died.
And we Christians believe
that Jesus didn't die
because of anything
that he had done
that was wrong.
It wasn't because,
you know,
he was doing really,
really good,
and then one day
he just sort of slipped up
and powerful people
were sort of able
to jump on him
and overwhelm him.
We Christians believe
that Jesus,
out of obedience to God
and out of love
for you and me,
that he came to this earth
not only to live
a perfect life
and not only to perform
those miracles
and not only to give
mighty teachings,
but he came to die.
He came to die
upon the cross
as our substitute.
Some of you have heard
this story before
of a time in my life
when substitution
was made very real.
It was the story of,
I was in grade eight,
and I was supposed to have
done a French speech,
and it was time
to give our presentations,
and I was completely,
utterly unprepared,
and I am terrible at French,
was then and worse now,
and one day the teacher said,
well, before we're going
to give these French speeches,
it wouldn't be fair
to go alphabetical
or reverse alphabetical order
like I do every other week.
There's 32 kids in the class.
I'm going to put,
I've put 32 pieces of paper
in a hat,
and each piece of paper
has number one
and number two,
number three,
32 pieces,
each with a different number
from one to 32.
We'll pass the hat,
and as you take
a number out of the hat,
that will be your order,
and she said,
is that a fair thing to do,
and everybody in the class,
including me,
said that's completely,
and utterly fair,
and you know,
I'm like those
that watch that show,
Deal, No Deal,
and you're like,
I'm thinking,
what are the odds
of something really bad
happening, you know?
Four kids a day,
I have only one odd in eight
that I'm going to have
to do anything today.
I can, you know,
I was completely,
utterly uncomfortable,
and as the hat came to me,
and I took the number
out of the hat
to my horror,
I had number one,
and I had been really carefree
and smiling and laughing,
but now I knew
that my doom was upon me
and that there was
absolutely nothing
that I was going
to be able to do
because I was unprepared
and unskilled at French,
and I had been presumptuous,
just assuming that I had
one or two more nights
to work on this thing,
I had done nothing.
And so the teacher says
with a nice, bright,
you know, teacherly type of,
like as if we're doing
something really fun
and exciting,
okay, who's next?
Who's number one?
And I had to put my hand up
and I said,
I am number one.
And she said very brightly
and enthusiastically
like good teachers are,
well, George,
you come on up to the class
and give us your speech.
And I had to say,
I can't do my speech.
I have not done anything
to prepare.
I can't do it.
And she said,
George, just come up
and at least try.
And I say,
I can't even try.
And I am just,
I was completely
and utterly flummoxed
and defeated by this.
And so the teacher said,
well, George,
we all agreed
that this is the fair way to go.
You agreed that this
was the fair way to go.
And I have to either
give you zero
unless there's somebody
in the room
who would be willing
to trade their number
with your number.
And they took number one.
And she said,
is there anybody
in the class like this?
And Ricky,
of blessed memory,
who had number 16,
said,
I am willing
to come
and give George
my number 16
and he can take my number.
I will give him
my number 16
and I will take
his number one.
And he walked
across the class
and dropped 16
on my desk.
And he went up
to the front
and he did the speech.
He was my substitute.
He traded places with me.
And the wonderful good news
of the gospel
is the gospel
doesn't deny
that there is evil.
It doesn't deny
that there is death.
In fact,
it says that we human beings
should wake up
to the reality of death
and the reality of evil
and the impossibility
for us to lift ourselves
up by our bootstraps
or impossibility
of changing ourselves
and we should understand
that what this points to
is that we need a savior.
And at the heart
of that saving work,
there has to be substitution.
We don't need
another example.
Like how many of us
need to see another
unbelievably fit person
telling us how we can
lose weight
and look like them?
Like we don't need
another example,
you know?
And on top of that,
they're just fantastically perfect.
They can cook.
They can fix things.
They never do anything wrong.
We don't need another example.
We need a savior
who is a substitute.
And Christians believe
that Jesus came,
lived perfectly under
God's kingly rule
and authority.
and never broke
fellowship with God
and that Jesus came
not only to do that
but more importantly
that he came
to die upon the cross
and that he came
and in his death
he says to George
and he says to each one of us,
he says,
I am willing
to trade places with you
and I will take your place
and suffer the consequences
of all your actions
and all your rebellion
and you can take my place
of unbroken fellowship
with God.
It's what the Bible teaches.
Turn in your Bibles
to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5
verse 21.
2 Corinthians 5
and it's on page
990
sorry,
it's 1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
5
verse 21
and it's on page
1002
the very last verse.
2 Corinthians 5
521
on page 1002
for God made him
that's Jesus
who knew
no sin
to be
sin
for us
in other words
to trade places
with us
that we might become
the righteousness
of God
in him.
It's this
wonderful news
of
of exchange
of substitution.
Please put up
the next slide.
And
and
and the good news
continues.
You see,
we Christians
believe that
not only did
Jesus die
upon the cross
and taste
all there is
and and die
in a sense
bearing my
punishment
and my sin
that it wasn't
an accident.
It wasn't as if
the bad Romans
or the bad
religious people
somehow were able
to overwhelm
Jesus
but Jesus
willingly
entered into
this
out of love
for you and me
willing to be
our substitute
willing to trade
places with us
and Jesus
after tasting
everything there is
to taste of death
with nothing
left over
on the third
day
he emerged
on the far
side of death
because he had
never sinned
death could
ultimately not
hold him
or swallow him
and on the
third day
he arose
he arrived
or rose
on the far
side of death
having defeated
sin
having defeated
death
which is a sign
of sin
and we also
believe all
hostile spiritual
powers
anything
which separates
us from God
is defeated
by the person
of Jesus
and he rose
from the dead
and he sits
at God's
right hand
it's why
you see
we don't talk
about him
as an historical
person
we don't talk
about him
like we might
have talked
about Napoleon
or we might
even talk
about a holy
person
like Augustine
or Saint
Teresa
of Avila
we don't talk
about God
as Jesus
as if he's
in the past
we know
that he's
alive
and Jesus
invites us
to share
in his triumph
he invites us
to share
in his triumph
and he can
hear us
when we speak
and we Christians
believe
that one day
he will return
and the work
of salvation
which he had
begun
by allowing
our souls
to be reconnected
to God
and yet we still
see things
which aren't
right in the world
and the work
of salvation
which he has
begun
by allowing
our souls
to be connected
to God
that God
himself
through the
Holy Spirit
would actually
make his
home
within
mortals
like you
and me
that one day
Jesus will
return
and fix
the entire
created order
and in the meantime
he invites us
to share
in his triumph
and learn
to live
under
the kingly
rule of God
not now
purely from
our own
strength
but with
God himself
the Holy Spirit
actually living
in us
let's look
at a passage
of scripture
which talks
about this
and it's
Hebrews chapter
9
Hebrews chapter
9
and verses
the sort of
the second half
of 26
right up
till the end
of the chapter
just two and a half
verses
page 1040
and
Hebrews
9
26
B
so to speak
and so it's
beginning at the
third line
which says this
but now
once
at the end
of the ages
Jesus has
appeared
to put away
sin
by the
sacrifice
of himself
and as it is
appointed for men
to die once
but after this
the judgment
so Christ
was offered
once
to bear
the sins
of many
to those
who eagerly
wait for him
he will appear
a second time
apart from sin
for salvation
Kendra if you could
put up the
final one
so friends
today we have
a choice
before us
and this is
illustrated by
these two
dot
drawings
on
my
right
on the
left hand
side
as you
look at
this
you see
the state
of human
beings
apart from
Christ
and a little
tiny crown
over our
heads
and we go
through life
and we go
through world
saying
we're
going to
live as if
God does
not exist
and I
want his
job
and on
the right
hand
side
is the
person
who has
made the
choice
to leave
the left
hand side
and move
to the
right
hand
side
to live
under the
kingly
rule
of Jesus
trusting
Jesus
as
savior
and learning
to allow
him to be
the Lord
and the
gospel message
is that no
matter what
your state
of affairs
is on the
left hand
Jesus will
never cast
you out
and it
is
it would
make
God
I mean
the Bible
says that
the angels
throw a
party in
heaven
when any
person
decides to
move from
the left
hand side
there to
the right
and you
know what
there is no
better time
than today
to listen
to the
words and
heed the
words of
John 3
16
for God
so loved
the world
that he
gave his
one and
only son
to the end
that all
that believe
in him
shall not
perish
but have
eternal
life
there is no
better time
than right
now
to move
from the
left side
to the
right side
and how
do you
do that
remember I
said to
you earlier
on that
my life
was different
at 3
55 p.m.
the 15th
of May
1981
than it
was at
4 0 5
p.m.
May 15
1981
and the
difference
was five
simple words
which I
said to
my wife
Louise
will you
marry
me
and
sometimes
a few
words make
all the
difference
in the
world
and
it
you know
it's
as if
right now
God
through his
son Jesus
Christ
is standing
at the
very very
in a sense
he's standing
in front
of you
and he's
knocking
on the
door to
your heart
and the
door to
your life
and he's
saying
you know
I would
like to
come in
and make
this offer
of being
your substitute
of being
your savior
I would
like you
to enter
into my
triumph
and Jesus
stands
and he
knocks
and he
knocks
and he
knocks
and it's
up to
us to
open the
door and
allow him
to come
in
and the
way we
open the
door of
our hearts
and allow
him to
come in
is to
say a
simple
prayer to
God
that involves
three very
very simple
concepts which
we're all
familiar with
sorry
thank you
and please
anybody who
understand
anybody who
has all
of the
power that
they need
to ask
Jesus
to move
from the
left to
the right
hand side
of that
picture
and so
there's no
better time
than today
to say to
God something
like this
father I am
sorry that I
have been
living my
life as if
I am my
own God
or father I
am sorry that
I have been
living my
life apart
from you
and then
to say to
him
father thank
you that
you had a
plan that
could save
me thank
you that
you sent
your son
Jesus to
be my
savior and
then say
please Jesus
come into
my life and
be my
savior make
your home
within me and
help me to
learn to
live under
your authority
to say
sorry thank
you and
please
very few
words it
can be your
own words your
own way of
saying sorry
your own way
of saying thank
you your own
way of saying
please but I
can tell you
right now that
no one who
says that to
God will he
say no to
you and there
is no better
time than right
now to do
that could you
please stand
there's nothing
magic I'm
going to I'm
going to move
over to the
side here
there's there's
nothing magic
about leaving
your pew and
there's nothing
like this I
just know that
sometimes it's
really helpful for
people maybe
you're not sure
whether you've
ever done this
before maybe
you just really
feel compelled
in your heart
that you would
like to have
some public
way of acknowledging
that you would
like to now
come to Christ
and I'm going
to allow a few
seconds and
if you would
like to pray
that prayer I
invite you to
come up to the
front and I'm
not going to do
anything to
embarrass you other
than the fact that
I invite you to
come to the
front and I
will say the
prayer slowly and
you are free to
repeat the words
after me and
there's no better
time than today
to give your
life to Christ
and so I'm
just going to
have a few
moments of
silence if
you'd like to
come forward
you can
if you're not
sure if you
can come
forward you're
free to remain
in your seats
and say the
prayer from
there but it
can be very
powerful to
come forward
lid
hij
Wherever you're standing, if this is the prayer of your heart,
just repeat silently the words after me.
He said, you can use your own words, but if you're not sure about your own words,
you can just borrow mine and make them your own.
Father, I am sorry that I have lived apart from you,
turned my back on you.
Thank you, Father, that you love me.
Thank you for sending Jesus.
Thank you for sending a Savior.
Please, Jesus, come to me.
Come into my life.
Be my Savior.
Be my Lord.
Thank you that you will never leave.
Pour your Holy Spirit upon me today.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Father, I thank you for the gift of your Son and the working of your Holy Spirit.
May your Holy Spirit fall afresh upon each of us.
Those of us who have given our lives to Christ,
may your Holy Spirit fall afresh upon us and draw us ever closer to yourself.
And those fathers still seeking after you,
may your Holy Spirit move and work within them to draw them closer to yourself.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.