Sin

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Good morning so we've got to talk about the elephant in the room start looking around start looking around are there any guilty looks the elephant in the room that we don't like to talk about you know the elephant in the room that's so huge it's really hard to miss it's impossible to miss but no one looks at it the elephant in the room in every room doesn't matter where you go can't get away from it it seems and that elephant in the room is saying hey and I feel we need to talk about Sin today yes it's an incredibly joyful time Jesus is Lord right come on there's more than five people who love Jesus come on Jesus is Lord right yeah so how good is is Easter Sunday and everything that that represents that he rose from the dead and we're going to get into why that is incredible good news but before we get to that we've got to understand what this thing called sin is because if we don't understand what sin is you don't understand the power and how epic Easter Sunday really is right and what Jesus really did for us and so we've got to talk about the elephant in the room and that's called sin in which you agree that sin is a problem I'm going to say some things this morning that you're going to be like man that's cutting a bit close that's a bit sensitive because again I'm going to say things like sin is worse than cancer it's more horrible than Hitler it's more devastating than Wildfire if you've ever survived a Bushfire sin is rebellion against God it's anything less than perfect holiness it kills and it steals and it destroys that's what sin does every single person in this room has experienced sin because everyone has sin it's really difficult to walk around in this world and not see sin because everyone has it any if you look at even maybe the smallest people in our Auditorium this morning even our little children even they have sin parents are like oh yes I know they have sin they're evil I can say that because I'm a parent I love my kids but I didn't have to teach them how to disobey they knew how to do that all by themselves and it was saying that there is no cure for sin but God loved the world I love that but God loved the world and you're probably not going to see this very easily on your slide that's okay I'm going for effect this morning because all of these passages all these scriptures you know and I'll be referring to them you'll have them in your notes during the week but God loved the world and he loved the world so much that he gave his only son right now we know that because of that that famous verse for God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that all who believe in him shall not perish but have everlasting life as John 3 16 right but that's a great summary of what the good news really is and he gave us his only son he's here's what he did he caused his son to come to the world by a miracle and the Holy Spirit conceived a son to the Virgin Mary and he was fully God but also fully human to my puny little mind I have no idea how that works but he is fully God and fully human at the same time and he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and because of that reason he wasn't mired by sin see you and I when we have our kids unfortunately they're a product of us and so they inherit all of the sin that we have and our kids you can see them as they're growing up our beautiful little Rashid kids at the back if you look at the little ones in the auditorium right now none of them was taught how to sin they just figured it out all by themselves it's their superpower isn't it we're so good at it and as we grow up we get better at sin it would seem I keep thinking well my when my kids grow up it's going to be easier now they're just going to have bigger problems aren't they but Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit he wasn't mad by sin and he kept his holiness he lived a blameless life he lived in submission to his father in Heaven and he was careful in his perfect obedience to his father's will how many of us are careful in our obedience to the father's will this is not a time for us to feel bad or guilty about ourselves I'm just highlighting our flaws because in a minute we're going to understand why what Jesus did was so incredible okay but before we can really appreciate that we've got to understand how far we fall short and sin does that yeah because he was fully man he felt all of the pain and the suffering of a human existence didn't he he was tormented by the devil do you remember that not long after he was baptized by John the Baptist in the wilderness he he gets he goes he goes out into the Wilderness and there is tormented by the devil he was rejected by his own people remember the crowds that that hail the coming of the King on Palm Sunday were the very same crowds yelled crucify him crucify him only a few days later and prior to that many rejected him including the people they should have protected him like the the Jewish Council the Sanhedrin the leaders of the day and he was betrayed by his friends remember Judas remember Peter if you think that What Judas did was bad and selling Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver well how would you say Peter's goodness was when he couldn't even take the accusation of a serving girl and said aren't you one of the ones who was following this Jesus of Nazareth and he denied that he even knew him three times and you might say well he was fearing for his life what was the serving girl going to do to him maybe he was just afraid like we get afraid don't we we get afraid of what people might say if we say the name of Jesus in a public space we get afraid of what what happened in our workplace if we say Jesus is Lord don't we how was that different to what Peter did he was misunderstood he was misquoted and he was mistreated but he still prayed father forgive them for they know not what they do isn't that what he prayed for those very same Rhema soldiers who were literally nailing his hands and his feet to the Cross as they did that as they hoisted him up and raised him up on their cross he said father forgive them because they don't know what they're doing we think of the Judgment upon Judas we think of all the things that happen how would you feel if you were one of those Roman soldiers and you were just doing your job when they had taken his life away and all that was said had been done they forgot about him they gave him a hurried burial in a borrowed tomb because it was a religious day foreign teaching and the signs and wonders he had worked because his way was not their way isn't it amazing um the disciples upon hearing about the resurrection of Jesus were amazed we're surprised there are many accounts at least on three occasions where Jesus very specifically very plainly very clearly taught not just the three beloved disciples not just the twelve of his disciples but all of his disciples that he was going to be mistreated that he was going to be handed over that he was going to be killed and that he was going to rise again on the third day he didn't speak those things in Parables he said them very plainly on one of those occasions Peter even said odd not to you Jesus let let that not happen to you when Jesus turns around and says to him get behind me Satan and you might think that's harsh but in the context of the universe and in the context of the Gospel can we see now what Jesus had to do what he had to do and so Bears asking how many of Jesus's plain teachings do we forget how many of his very obvious teachings do we choose not to remember and then when he turns up and does something incredible we're surprised Church Miracles should not be a surprise to us every single person here who is a believer of Jesus who has faith in Jesus you should be expecting Miracles all the time your salvation is the world's greatest miracle you know you there was nothing that was going to convince you that Jesus is Lord except for the Holy Spirit right and that's all well and good but then he rose from the dead and again it shouldn't be a surprise because your Lazarus from the dead right um many of the folks that were were hailing the coming of the King on Palm Sunday do you remember that how they were they'll they'll uh had all these palm fronds and they had had their coats laid down the road as as Jesus rode in on the donkey many of those folks were gathered not only because it was going to be the Passover but because they had heard about what Jesus has had done for Lazarus and so he was a bit of a celebrity coming into the great city of Jerusalem and they were waiting to see what he was going to do next as you would okay he was the man of superpowers who came into Jerusalem and he had raised a person back to life not only that he had pedigree he had the stories of what he had been doing signs and wonders out in the region in the in the area he'd been casting out demons he'd been Healing The Sick and the lame and he'd been teaching from the scriptures with author unlike many of the other scribes and other teachers that were there you know in the wilderness we're going backwards a bit now if you think back to Exodus before Israel was really a nation and they were enslaved in this place called Egypt under pharaoh and they were there for for quite a while and we know how the story goes God delivered them out of their place through great signs and wonders didn't he there were the ten plagues of Egypt I'm not going to get into all of that story because it's a it's a great story you need to read it's in Exodus it's the second book of the Bible find it read it it's awesome but one of the things that happened after they came out of Egypt and unfaithfully didn't have the trust in God and so God cursed that generation to wander around in the wilderness for 40 years during those wanderings in the wilderness there's this obscure little story that happens and The Story Goes that there were serpents fiery serpents where these people were wandering at the time what that means is that these these snakes were poisonous right they were they were killing people and so the people cried out to God and said God would you save us from this because these these fiery serpents and Moses was there he was leading them at the time and so he prayed to God and God said I want you to do something Moses I want you to cast a bronze snake right you can read this story in numbers okay you can read this story numbers but I want you to cast a bronze snake the likeness of a snake and I want you to get a poll a bit of tree and nail this snake to that tree and then every time someone gets bitten by a snake all they have to do is look at that Brazen snake stuck up on a pole and they'll be healed and of course that's what Moses goes out and does and he casts this bronze snake and he sticks it up on the pole and whenever someone gets bitten by a snake all they have to do is look at this this bronze snake up in the pole and then miraculously healed and that sounds amazing but it always been a question in my mind why would God do that I mean God could have just healed the people right he could have just taken the snakes away he could have made them move on but no why would god of Heaven and Earth say I want you to make what essentially amounts to an idol right a statue of a snake stick up on a pole and that's going to be the mechanism of your healing I'm not going to heal you I'm going to make a way but you've got to look at that you're going to trust that what I've said is going to be true and you're going to be healed does this sound familiar hopefully you're starting to sound familiar but that's what he did in the in the wilderness for the Israelites as they were wandering around in that 40-year period part of that time there they were afflicted by these snakes and Jesus talks about that in John chapter 3 you remember John chapter 3 verse 16. the most famous verse in the Bible that we just we just heard well two verses prior to that it says and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness that serpent that we were just talking about so must the son of man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life you see Jesus was saying that was just a shadow a picture of what God had always planned he didn't just want to heal you physically in the wilderness who wants to heal you forever for all of eternity and just like Moses had to lift up this bronze snake and put it up on a on a cross and if you put your trust in what God had said about that snake you would be healed because God Made A Way God has also made a way through Jesus and see Jesus was lifted up wasn't he he was hung on a cross and you know why it was a bronze snake on that cross because snake is always judgment and sin and death and God nailed it to a cross the Bible tells us that Jesus became sin for us he didn't just put it on there is so much sin in one person let alone all people for all of time he became sin for us he became that Brazen snake are you getting a picture of what sin does and can you see how God had planned this right from the start even as he rescued the Israelites out of the Wilderness and he said this this is what I'm going to do for you but Jesus said but this is what it means Luke 24 I think Dylan read it out a bit early and I read it to you again but on the first day of the week at early Dawn they went to the tomb taking the spices that they had prepared that's the women and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus while they were perplexed about this behold two men stood by them in dazzling apparel and as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground the men said to them why do you seek the living among the Dead he is not here but has risen remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee that the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise and they remembered his words he was innocent he was blameless he was the only one ever but sin had no power over him he suffered a sinner's death but he arose in Victory nobody had ever overcome sin before sin was always the end sin always got his man always got his woman sin always had the victory until it met Jesus but sin couldn't keep him in the grave you see the only Power that sin has is death right the wages of sin is death the natural consequence of sin is death it will always lead to destruction unfortunately for sin once it's done death it can't do anything more so what can it do to a risen savior logically have a think about it if sin has already killed Jesus what can it do to Jesus again if he's risen from the dead it has no power over him right death has no power over life and that's what Jesus did when he when he raised back to life his death is an incredible sacrifice but if he ever never Rose back to life then you and I have no hope but if he rises back to life which he did and the Bible tells that he is the firstborn of the Dead what's true of the first is true of the rest and that's our hope right that's our assured hope that what is true of our savior that is what is true of the first one of the Dead is true for the rest of us who put our hope in Jesus Remember the Brazen serpent do you remember the cross he's not on there anymore but we can still look at the cross and remember that God Made A Way God made a way every single person in this room has been afflicted by sin it could look like cancer it can look like hardship it can look like struggles and strife and can look like someone that you don't like very much and insert your issue in this box right that's what sin can look like every single person and I'm sorry little ones you're going to be affected by this as well that's just the reality of this life on this Earth but God has made a way God has made a way and he said if you just look to his son on the cross if you just look to that he didn't say your life is going to be peachy he didn't say that you see the Israelites still wandered in the wilderness right they still had to trust God they still had to follow what he was saying to them and he had a plan for them and you and I still need to follow God and we still need to do what he's asking us to do he didn't say life is going to be fantastic now that you're following Jesus but he did say you will have eternal life sin will no longer have power over you your body might die but you won't and in a world that is surrounded and all it loves is physical things our hope is so much more than that Jesus didn't die for your physical self he died for your Eternal Soul the world doesn't want you to know that you have an eternal soul the world doesn't want you to know that you could literally die for all of eternity but you can so Jesus didn't cure sin he defeated it and Jesus doesn't give you a repaired life he gives you a new life big difference your life is not a patchwork quilt of scars and Band-Aids if you come to Christ he gives you a whole new life and the Bible tells us there's coming a day when we're all going to get new bodies some of you are like yes fantastic Bible also tells us that we're going to see Jesus as he is I can't wait for that but Heaven is all about Jesus and so if you don't love Jesus you're not going to like heaven much so that's why Jesus came and that's why he died and that's why he rose again and the question is always will you look to the cross for your hope not just once I'll finish with this if you've been a Christian for a while and you've heard the Easter Story many many times okay and that's probably true for many of you will you continue to look at the cross tomorrow because what happens not tomorrow tomorrow's Easter Monday it's it's a public holiday Tuesday not even before you get to work but when you have to drive through Brisbane traffic and we can we can we can laugh at that but it's an everyday occurrence for many of us right what are your triggers and how are you going to be a representative of Christ even in that how are you going to look to Christ to disciple your kids parents because anybody can put food on the table and give them a a roof over their heads but who's going to disciple them who's going to teach them the way of Christ who's going to love them and care for them and show them the example of faith in their home if not you parents it's a it's an incredibly High Calling my my call as a parent is higher than my caller senior pastor of this church I'll let you know that now right I'll happily leave you if it means I need to go disappoint my kids and I expect everyone in this room who is a parent to do exactly the same if you're discipling your kids Christians if you're not a Christian if you don't know who Jesus is or you've heard of him before but you're not really sure what he's all about Jesus doesn't want anything from you he didn't bring a whole bunch of rules he didn't say if you do these 10 things then you can get this no he just said look I've already done something for you okay he he chose to die so that you wouldn't but he says look I'm not going to force it upon you because no one wants things forced down their throat all right so I'm not going to force it upon you I've made a way okay and and the way to remember that is this thing called the cross right every time you see that it just reminds you of what I did um but it's your choice you can choose to accept what I've done for you and acknowledge that I am your lord and your savior or not but know this Jesus's life the other way is death if you like everything that life brings then please choose life because if you don't you don't get to blame God that death happens in your life it's not God's fault it was your choice now like I said the Christian life is not always an easy one we still live in a fallen world we are still surrounded by sin we still have many decisions to make and many Christians will go through incredibly difficult times with poor health and kids doing the wrong thing and bad situations and that is normal and right for a fallen world but our hope is not for this world it's for something Beyond this as Paul the Apostle Paul who wrote a large chunk of the New Testament reminded us for him to live was Christ and to die was gained I love that saying because his whole life his remaining life on this Earth he was allowed to tell other people about who Jesus was and what he had done for the whole world and that was again but if all they did was say it thanks but no thanks and we hate you we want to get rid of you well if they killed him he would go to heaven and still be with Jesus and that was gained as well so Christians another picture is the fiery furnace and sometimes as a fiery furnace awaiting Us in the following day or two we don't know what that's going to be a trouble or a Strife or an issue or a concern but I love the the saying of those guys as they were faced with the fiery furnace and they said to the king you know God can save us from this but even if he doesn't he's still our God that's called faith and it's not a faith in something that you don't know it is something that you do know it's an assured Faith it's a hope that is real and true I thought of many times over the last couple of days of what I was going to preach this morning and and how I was going to wow you with facts and figures and the proof of the Resurrection because there is there is scientific evidence and proof for for the resurrection of Christ and there's lots of wonderful things that I could tell you but Jesus kept pointing me back and said no no the gospel is enough the gospel is enough that that's that is it I don't need to give you facts and figures I don't need to give you cool stories I don't need to make it any more pretty than what it is and so if you're in this room this morning and you you feel you need to make a decision we're going to pray in a minute I'll just get you to raise your hand where you are and we'll get one of the pastors or one of the team to come and pray with you because this is probably one of the most significant decisions you'll ever make in your entire life because it is literally eternal life for Eternal death there is no Gray so Jesus is Lord always was always will be and today on Easter Sunday we remember his resurrection because that is his victory but it's also our Victory because sin is still there and now every time you look at sin and if you look around at your own life and the lives of other people you see sin you go but you're defeated right sin used to be a reminder of death but for Christians sin is now a reminder of how Jesus is what has won the victory right so sin no longer has to have power over you it's just a reminder of how Jesus has defeated sin okay Heavenly Father we thank you for your perfect plan for your goodness and your graciousness that thought of us even in our sin and Lord Jesus we acknowledge the fact that even as you were nailed to that cross you cried out for us even then and Lord Jesus I pray for those of us who perhaps need to realign our faith once again to you acknowledging your goodness and your kindness even in the struggles and in The Strife but for those who perhaps don't know you this morning Lord God I pray that they would have the courage to raise that hand and to receive you for the first time and on this Easter Sunday look God we pray that your name will be lifted High that this great nation of Australia will finally once again turn back to who you are we were birthed on Christian principles and Lord we pray that we would turn back once again to you Lord we pray for caboolture we pray for this this lost and hurting community pray for the folks who are living in tents and in their cars and are struggling on the street law God to feed their families and to to go and make ends meet Lord we pray for their provision because you can do that but we also pray for our own obedience in case you wish to choose to use us and so Lord we come to you with open heart arms when we say hallelujah praise the god of Heaven and Earth in Christ name we pray. Amen.