Our Need of Him

Jesus Christ rose from the dead, conquering sin and death so that we would not be condemned to an eternity without God. Out of His love God talks to us, by His Holy Spirit, convincing us of our sin and our need for Him. All we have to do is look at Jesus with faith, and He will give you salvation.

I’d like to thank the choir for all the work they’ve put in to convey to you the significance, and the vitality of the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again, conquering sin and death. The outworking of anyone who is involved, as we all are from our initial birth, with sin, is death. There are some here this morning in whom God has been faithfully speaking over the past weeks. By His Spirit He speaks to us. He does that for the simple reason that He wants you not to end up in death. When Jesus was with His disciples He told them that if they kept His commandments they would abide in His love even as He had kept the Father’s commandments and abode in His love. Jesus was the only one who fulfilled the commandments of the Father. He did no sin, He thought no sin. He was pure. The life and love that is in Christ is something which God is pointing out to you because He wants to change the decay inside you. That decay which leads, in the end, to an eternity without God; death.

(reading from Mau Tsi Tung’s book) He didn’t follow an ideology or philosophy. It was a life without God and it ended in death and self-pity. Even at the end he was thinking that someone was going to depose him. I have mentioned this because your involvement with sin, if Jesus Christ is not your Lord and Saviour, will result in death eternally. You can’t muck about with sin. The glorious truth of today is the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, period. He conquered death by doing that, and took into Himself the penalty of sin. The power of sin in your life is broken. As a result of Him rising from the dead, death was conquered and life reigns.

There were ten occasions when He appeared to various people after He came back to life. He was seen by Mary Magdalene, then by the other Mary, then to the disciples, then to Peter, then to 500 people, then to James and then to the Apostles again as He was taken up in a cloud back to heaven. There was one occasion I missed out in that list which will now see:

Luke 24:13-27

You can now see in Isaiah a few verses which refer to Jesus. Jesus could well have referred to these verses when He explained to those two on the road about Himself.

Isaiah 25:6-8

He will swallow up death in victory. And now, here’s Jesus walking along the road pointing out all those verses which referred to Himself. As He spoke to them, they could tell that what He was talking about was true.

Luke 24:28-35

Ten occasions when Jesus appeared before He ascended into heaven, physically risen from the dead.

Here Paul lists these occasions in his letter to the Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 15:3-8

1 Corinthians 15:12-19

What he’s talking about is that if Jesus Christ had not risen up from the dead, sin would still always have control of you and me. The end would be certain death, an eternity without God. There are some of you here who are thinking that you have heard this so often and you are not sure if it will ever be true for me. God is saying to you that Jesus actually physically rose from the dead, that is a fact. It was attested by many witnesses. As a result of that death has been broken and life has been given, through Him eternally. The point comes when, by His Holy Spirit, God in His love and mercy makes that revelation to you that you need someone to sort out the sin inside you. The fact that you realise you need someone to deal with your sin is God Himself already working in you.

It is miserable without God because you try and fill that void inside you, but nothing can fill it. So you keep coming back to square one and you’re still the same. Christ rose from the dead so that you would be set free from the curse of sin. He took into Himself that sin inside you on the cross. He’s not going to force Himself on you, but by His Holy Spirit He’s speaking to you right now. I don’t care if someone is sitting here who has been here year after year and yet, for you, it’s as if you’re hearing this for the first time. I’m saying that it is not too much to swallowed one’s pride if we are talking about eternity. The Law of God still stands. You know and I know that you cannot fulfil that law. Jesus fulfilled that law because you cannot. The solution is simply to look at Christ. God has provided a way forward for all mankind, but He’s a gentleman and He won’t force the issue.

1 Corinthians 15:20-22

1 Corinthians 15:53-56

The bite of the serpent resulted in death, and the analogy is that the sin is the sting that causes death. The only solution to your situation inside, is Jesus Christ and you exercising faith. That means repenting of your sin and thinking about what it meant for Jesus Christ to go to the cross and to rise again. The solution is that when you set your faith in what Jesus Christ has done, you can have salvation. The Holy Spirit first has to convince you of your sin and of the consequence of that. The power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the same power which changes people on the inside today. No wonder He says: “Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Corinthians 15:58

At this point I could say, if God’s convicting you on the inside, come to the front and I’ll pray with you. Many of you would say that you’ve done that before and nothing has happened. I know that what matters is that the power of the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to you directly, by His Holy Spirit, to get hold of you. He loves you.