The Bridge Illustration

A. Our Purpose: Why God Created People

The Father in heaven has great plans for us. He said in Jeremiah 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you… plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” God made us for three reasons:

1. To Glorify God.
   God, being all-good, all-loving, all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-perfect deserves our respect and worship. The apostle Peter wrote, “You are a chosen people… a people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9)
   
2. To Know God.
   God wants a relationship with each one of us. He asks that we call Him “Father,” not “Life Force” or “First Cause.:” Jesus said, “I have made you (Father) known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” (John 17:26 NIV)
   
3. To Have a Satisfying Life.
   Without God, life is shallow disjointed and purposeless. God has planned for us to know the joy, love, adventure and fruitfulness that He Himself has. Jesus assured us, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full!” (John 10:10)
   
   How important is it to you to glorify God with your life?
   
   How close is your relationship with God?
   
   How satisfied are you with your life as it is now?

B. Our Problem: Man is Cut Off from God

God is perfect, holy, faultless. Scripture tells us God’s “eyes are too pure to look on evil” (Habakkuk 1:13) and that He lives in “unapproachable light” (1 Timothy 6:16) and “in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Light and darness, i.e. good and evil, are like oil and water, they cannot mix. That is where our trouble begins.

1. Everyone has rebelled against God. People want to make their own decisions, live life their own way. That is what sin is: mutiny against God’s plan for our lives. It’s thinking we know better than God. And even when we have tried to do things God’s way, we can’t measure up. Paul wrote, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)


2. Sin means being cut off from God.A branch severed from the tree slowly withers. Being cut off from God by sin, we gradually deteriorate. Age, illness, broken relationships, and hollow hearts are all symptoms of the root cause of separation from God. “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)
   
   Do you acknowledge yourself as a sinner?
   
   Do you believe that the wages of your sin is death?

C. God’s Remedy: Pay for Our Sins With His Son

1. God continues to love us.Like a loving Father with a disobedient child, God longs for reconciliation. And God makes the first move. John wrote, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) But, remember the wages of our sin is death. God, being perfectly just, could not allow our sin to go unpunished. Somebody had to pay.


2. Jesus came to earth to put things right.Because Jesus was human, He could relate to our sinful nature, though He was sinless Himself. Because He was God, He was “big” enough to pay the price of our sin. Paul soberly stated, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that through him we might ecome the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) God placed His stamp of approval of Jesus by resurrecting Him from the dead. Jesus is now in heaven at the Father’s side. His work is done. He has bridged the gap between God and man by suffering our punishment and clearing us of all charges. Our debts are canceled; our conviction is overturned. The Judge, after passing the verdict that we are guilty, comes down from His chair and serves our sentence as well! “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
   
   How important is Jesus to you?
   
   Do you believe Jesus was God in the flesh?
   
   What do Jesus’ death and resurrection mean to you?

D. Our Response: Give Our Lives to God’s Son

God’s forgiveness is not automatic or mechanical. We must personally take steps to receive it. A gift is not your untl you open the package. To receive Jesus’ death as our own, we must do the following.

1. TRUST in Jesus and His forgiveness as a free gift.You don’t pay half, with God paying the other half. There is no matching funds program with God. We don’t have to become “pretty good” before we can be saved. Isaiah sets this straight, “All our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (64:6). It’s all Jesus, from A to Z, beginning to end. “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) Most religions spell the path to God with two letters: “D O.” Christianity spells it with four letters, the first two letters the same: “D O N E.” Jesus has DONE it for you.


2. CONFESS what you believe about Christ.“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)


3. Be willing to REPENT.To repent means to change your mind about how to live this life. We must decide to live God’s way. “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out…” (Acts 3:19a)


4. Be BAPTIZED.The apostle Pter responded this way to the question, “What must I do to be saved?”“Repent and be BAPTIZED, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)In baptism we are buried to our old way of selfish living, washed clean of sin, and raised to a new life with God. We believe baptism should take place when a person is of an accountable age and has fulfilled steps 1-3 above. We also hold that baptism should be completed by immersion. The Greek word literally means “to dip under water.”

Which side are you on?

Can you accept God’s love, forgiveness, and heaven as a free gift to you?

Have you decided to turn away from your sin?

Have you confessed Christ publicly?

Have you been baptized by immersion into Jesus Christ?

A Personal Prayer to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Father, thank you for the free gift of eternal life. I know I am a sinner and need your forgiveness. I am sorry for my past sins, and I ask You to forgive me. Jesus, I believe You died on the cross for my sins and arose from the dead. I now open the door of my heart and invite You to come into my life. I realize there is nothing I can do to earn my salvation, and I place my complete trust in You alone for eternal life. I choose to follow You as my Lord. Please make me the person You want me to be. Amen.

E. The Final Results: God’s Purpose For Us Restored

1. If we have sincerely followed the steps, we can be sure we are saved. God no longer holds our sins against us. He has prepared a place for us in heaven. We will live with Him for eternity. Because of this certainty, we can praise God as He designed us to do.


2. God’s Spirit, His invisible power and influence, now lives in us. Though God is in heaven, He now resides in our hearts as well. We don’t have to go through someone else to talk with Him. He is always with us. We can know God personally. As quoted previously, Peter said, “…And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38a)


3. Now that the Spirit of Christ lives in us, we are free to begin the process of maturity whereby we become more and more like Christ. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10 emphasis added) He also said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 emphasis added)
   Although we will not be perfect until we get to Heaven, God gives us the strength to do what we could never do on our own. He makes us more loving, generous, joyful, and faithful. In this way we have a truly fulfilling, peaceful, satisfying life. God will begin to do amazing things in and through us. The adventure is just beginning!

Are you sure you’re saved?

Are you confident God’s Spirit resides in you?

Do you believe you and your heart are in God’s hands?

©2001 Southeast Christian Church of Jefferson County, Kentucky, Inc. All Rights Reserved.