God Gave us the Bible to Show We Need a Savior

God gave us the Bible to show our need for a Savior - Jesus Christ - the sin crusher Props: Signs to hold - Sin, Death, Sin Crusher, Death Crusher, Jesus Soda can Ace bandage Let’s review what we did last week. Last week, we had some fun by breaking an egg, and Erin was a really great helper to try to get the egg back into its shell. We talked about some ways we might try to do it, but finally we concluded that once the egg was broken, there is no way to un-break it. And I talked about something else that was broken - something broken by sin - our relationship with God. And last week, we ended with kind of bad news - that everyone is a sinner. Do you remember how we fixed Romans 3:23 - All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And I said that there was nothing here on earth - no eraser big enough or powerful enough - to wipe away our sins the way we were able to wipe away the marker on the white board. And even if we didn’t like this news, it is still true. True. Bad situation. Hopeless situation. And I want you to feel that feeling for a little bit. Here I am a sinner, and maybe I look to you and say - hey, can you help me? But what can you say? Nope, sorry, I’m a sinner too. And sin separates us from the most wonderful, good thing - God himself. So we left on a low note last week. Bad news! Can I have a volunteer to hold up our first sign? (Sin) Sin is a horrible thing and not only does it keep God away from us, but also keeps heaven away from us. Can someone help me by turning to the book of Romans 6:23: (Death sign) This is bad, bad news indeed! But there is hope! The Bible doesn’t tell us this bad news and leave us in a place where we feel lost, so let’s follow the bible trail. Where does the Bible first talk about sin? Genesis 3. Tell me what happened in this first event with Adam and Eve. God did punish A&E, and you can read about that in Genesis 3. But there is a very interesting thing that happens. After God hears what happened, and how the serpent tempted them both, he first speaks to the serpent. He curses the serpent, and says something that is so wonderful. Can I have a volunteer come up and read this verse: (Genesis 3:15) These words tell us a secret to God’s heart. He will not let sin have the last word. In this verse, God gives us the first words promising someone who is to come, someone who will crush the head of the tempter. I call this promised one the “sin crusher.” Can you think of things that get crushed? Ice Soda cans Cars I have a n empty can of soda here, and to help us understand how powerful it is to crush something, I would like to ask (whoever reads 3:15) to crush the can But who this SIN CRUSHER will this be? Over the years, God spoke many many times about this one to come. Let’s learn more about Him - turn to Isaiah 53. Can I have another volunteer to read Isaiah 53:5? This verse tells us something that, if it weren’t there, we could never have imagined news so wonderful. This one to come will do something unexpected. Our sins - yours and mine - will crush him. Our transgressions will pierce him. Our punishment goes upon him. Could you also read 53:10? Who could have imagined that this could be. Who is this “sin healer” and how is he able to take away our sins? Let me have our Scripture reader get wound around by this bandage to represent that the One to come is a SIN HEALER. Our final place to look is in the Gospel of John 2:29 Can I have another volunteer? Now before you read, here is the setting. Imagine you are in Israel, standing by the Jordan River. A man named John the Baptist is there, and he is very excited! God has told him that he will be the one will tell people that this one promised long ago - the Sin Crusher, the Sin healer - is finally here! Imagine his words are a bit like a trumpet announcing the arrival of someone of great importance. Listen to his words. We can think of John’s words telling us that the One coming - really the one he is pointing to - is able to erase sins, the way nothing on earth is capable of doing! Now by now, I think you know that all these verses, from Genesis 3:15 through Isaiah 53, and now to John’s words are pointing to. It is Jesus. (Volunteer to come up and hold “Jesus” sign) And this is my point for the day. One reason God gave us the Bible so that we would recognize Jesus as the sin crusher. When he died on the cross, it wasn’t just his physical death. You and I now know from these verses in Isaiah that when Jesus died, he was taking away our sins and healing us. Do you remember Jesus’ last words? He said ‘ It is finished.” Why did he say that? Was he just realizing his life was over and now was finished? That sin crushed him and won? I don’t think so. I think the Bible knew that for thousands of years, God was pointing towards this very moment when the worst problem on earth - sin - would be defeated, crushed, ended! And that is why Jesus said in triumph - It is finished! Now 3 days later, Jesus showed us that not even death could hold him. Our Sin Crusher also became the Death Crusher (can?) And rose from the dead. He is stronger than sin and stronger than death. Now I have one final thing to say that may be surprising to you, but wonderful. The way we have our volunteers arranged is the way we usually understand how sin and God’s solution to sin - sin death Jesus But I want to move something around, because this is really how it happened. BEFORE Adam and Eve were ever created, before they even knew God didn’t want them to eat of the fruit, before they saw the fruit and took a bite, God knew this would happen. It did not take him by surprise. Before the beginning of time, God knew that sin would enter his perfect world and cause death and chaos. Because He knew & because God will NOT let sin and death win, he had already planned how to defeat sin. He had already planned that Jesus would come to earth to die for our sins. Imagine that! And imagine how much God must love you and me - while we were sinners God planned how to rescue us. So let me move Jesus from the end, to the beginning. In God’s mind, the plan to save us came even before sin! Imagine that. Let’s thank God!