He Gets Us: Who Did Jesus Say He Was? | Plan 5Sample

He is our one true hope.

It’ll happen to everyone else, but it won’t happen to you. That’s what most people think about death. It happens to somebody else. When we hear the news, the grief overwhelms us but then we try not to think about it.

Jesus cried when he stood at the grave of his friend, Lazarus (John 11:35). Perhaps he knew that in only a few days, he would also be in a tomb, closed up with a rock, and dead—just as dead as Lazarus was at that moment. Or perhaps he was crying about something else.

When Martha, Lazarus’ sister and Jesus’ friend, said in her grief, “If only you had been here, our brother wouldn’t have died,” Jesus replied with his most startling description of himself. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.”

When you breathe your last breath on this earth, you will enter eternity. What you believe here and now about Jesus will determine what you encounter at that moment. You are becoming today the person you will be forever.

Are you ready for that moment? Your answer depends on what you do with Jesus’ claim to be “the resurrection and the life.” What do you think really happened when he died? What took place on the cross became the most important fact of his life—and history. The Bible says that Jesus, who had no sin of his own, died to pay the debt you owe to God.

The Bible tells us that our sins separate us from God, both now and in eternity. Sin is anything that falls short of how God intends for us to live. It’s how we think, it’s what we do, even the good we fail to do, that is contrary to God’s ways. Sin says, I’ll do it my way. Those failings are not just imperfections or poor choices, it’s what keeps us far from God, today and ultimately when we die.

Sin isn’t easy to talk about. It’s hard to hear that we’re a sinner, but it’s a reality we must each deal with. The Bible tells us we are all like sheep; all of us have gone our own way (Isaiah 53:6). Gratefully, Jesus makes a way for us to live through his death. He says boldly that he is the only way to be rescued from sin’s consequence (John 14:6).

We have talked often about the confounding love of Jesus, a love that goes beyond our normal understanding of the word. In Romans 5:8, we read that "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Jesus’ body still carries the scars from the cross even today. His wrists and feet still have the gouge marks where nails pinned him to the wood and in his side you can feel where the spear pierced his heart, proving he was dead. Dying on the cross for humanity is the ultimate oxymoron, a blessed catastrophe. Because he is the resurrection and the life, he overcame sin and death.

Picture him extending his arms to you now, exposing his scars. This was the price I paid for your life, Go ahead, touch them. Let them remind you of the most horrible, most beautiful event in history. Absorb the gravity of what our sin cost him.

Yet these reminders of Jesus’ wounds mark a beautiful exchange (2 Corinthians 5:21): Jesus took your place. You were dead as dead could be. And God, seeing that Jesus paid for your sins, accepts his death as if it was yours. Jesus paid in full the price you couldn’t pay for yourself. How do we know God accepted Jesus’ payment?

Because Jesus didn’t stay dead. His resurrection shouted that the transaction was received and accepted; our sins can now be forgiven. This fact changed history and it can be what changes your life. The Bible says we are rescued from sin by God's grace (God giving us what we don't deserve) through faith, receiving "the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8).

Imagine this: if you receive this gift, the moment you breathe your last breath on earth, you pass from this life to your real life and you’ll be more alive than you’ve ever been. And the next face you’ll see is Jesus himself. His arms outstretched just as they once were on a cross, tears coursing down his face, he runs in your direction, laughing and shouting with joy and smothers you in a hug. He welcomes you home at last.

This is why he came.

If you’re weary of searching the world for a love to heal your broken heart, look to him. There’s real life ahead of you and nothing but death behind you.

Don’t wait a moment longer.

If you’d like to talk to God about it, here’s something to prompt your conversation:
Dear God—Here I am. I have nothing to offer you to pay for how I’ve lived. Please forgive my sins. I know I don’t deserve it but I hear that you’re willing to give me everything because your son, Jesus, paid the price for my life. That’s so awesome. That’s so beyond what I can completely understand, how Jesus took the hell that I deserve. I put my confidence in that and believe it’s true. And I believe the beautiful truth that this guarantees me a life with you when I die. You give me a life where I’ll never die again. This is a gift from you and all I have to do is receive it.

Right now, I believe that Jesus paid for my sin on the cross and that you raised him again to life. I turn from my sins and ask for you to give me new life now and when I die. I ask this because I believe what Jesus said, amen.