Hi church!

Here’s a quick recap of my Easter sermon:

Jesus’ resurrection makes the Gospel good news. It gives credibility to all that He taught, and all that He promised. It shows that He is the Son of God and has authority to forgive sins and offer eternal life.

But why is the Gospel good news?

The Problem

We were all created to be in union with God, and living in union with God, He directs and aligns all our human capacities so we are the people we are supposed to be as God’s image bearers.

But because of sin, we are separated from the relational presence of God in our lives. As a result:

• All our God-given capacities become corrupted (total depravity).
• We become enslaved to idols (entertainment, job, relationships, drugs, etc) to fulfill needs only God can fill.
• We bear God’s wrath, destined for eternal punishment in hell.

The Human Solution – Luke 15:11-32

We have tried to deal with the problem of sin apart from God in two main ways:

1. Embracing our sinfulness by going the way of the younger son, indulging in all our sins.
2. Living in obedience and doing good like the older brother to alleviate temporarily our guilt and shame, trying to earn our way into heaven.

Neither deals with the fundamental problem of our sins that separates us from God. We have sinned against a holy God, and the consequence is death (Romans 6:23).

The God Solution

God provided a way through His Son Jesus, who died to take the punishment of sin in our place. In Christ all my sins are put onto Him and all of Jesus’ perfect obedience is given to me so it’s as if I have obeyed perfectly all of God’s commands.

The Prodigal God*

This parable is known as the parable of the Prodigal Son. Prodigal means lavish, extravagant. The parable can also be called the Prodigal God. God is lavish in His love for us. Instead of His wrath, in Christ we are invited into God’s kingdom as His children instead. That’s the good news of the Gospel!

How have you dealt with the problem of sin apart from Jesus? If you are a Christian, have you trusted completely in the finished work of Christ on the cross, or are you still trying to earn salvation with good works?

I hope you were encouraged by the sermon. As always, please feel free to leave any feedback or how you interacted with the sermon. If you missed it, you can download the podcast in a few days.

SBECC Kairo English Ministry Podcast