Easter | The Pursuing God
“The thing that comes into our mind when we first think about god is the most important thing about us”
-AW TOZER
Do we want to be found?
Genesis 1:31
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
GOD PURSUES US
Genesis 3:6-13
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
WE RUN AWAY
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
GOD COMES RUNNING AFTER HIS RUN AWAY KIDS,
LOST MEANS GOD'S COMING TO FIND YOU!
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
WE RUN AWAY,
BUT GOD RESCUES
12 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
GOD COMES AND GETS DIRTY, IN ORDER TO MAKE US CLEAN.
MAKING US CLEAN COMES WITH A COST
Genesis 3:22-23
22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
CONSEQUENCES OF RUNNING AWAY:
DEATH: even death is A gift
EXILE: God giving us what we wanted, AWAY FROM GOD, PART OF GOD’S WRATH
GOD IS WRATHFUL BECAUSE GOD IS LOVE.
GOD PURSUES
WE RUN AWAY
GOD RESCUES
WHERE WE HAVE FAILED, JESUS COMES TO THE RESCUE
Colossians 1:15
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
1 Peter 1:18-20 NLT
18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 God made him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
1 John 4:10
10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
"Jesus (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) endured death as a lamb; he devoured it as a lion."
-Augustine
AT THE CROSS GOD IS EATING THE COST OF RUNNING AWAY (EXILE & DEATH) FOR ALL OF HUMANITY.
"The Cross didn't happen to Jesus, Jesus happened to The Cross"
-Joshua Ryan Butler
1 Corinthians 15:2-4
2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures
BOTTOM LINE:
GOD PURSUES,
WE RUN AWAY,
GOD RESCUES
DO WE WANT TO BE FOUND?
HOW YOU RESPOND TO THE RESURRECTION DETERMINES WHETHER OR NOT YOU WANT TO BE FOUND
