The Basics

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.

Revelation 4:11

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.

Revelation 4:11

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.

Romans 3:10–12

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.

Romans 3:10–12

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.

Romans 3 · chapter mention

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

2 Corinthians 5:21

chapter 5

verse 21.

2 Corinthians 5

and it's on page

990

sorry,

it's 1 Corinthians

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 5:21

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

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

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

9

Hebrews chapter

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

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

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

it's

as if

right now

God

through his

son Jesus

Christ

is standing

at the

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.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.