Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
When we look around and see all the dysfunction
and chaos, it's overwhelming. But when we look
closer to home and see the dysfunction and the
chaos in our own lives, it sometimes can paralyze
us and make us feel like there's no hope. I want
you to know that God is shouting from the rooftops,
there's hope. I sent you hope. Where's God's
hope? How do you get it? That's what we're going
to talk about in the next 20 minutes. Stay with
me. What if the life you've been working so hard
to build is the very thing standing between you
and the life God has for you? I'm Dave Drury,
and on this weekend edition of Living on the
Edge, Chip Ingram reveals how real change doesn't
start with trying harder. It starts with dying
to yourself. As Paul says in Galatians 2, verse
20, I have been crucified with Christ, and I
no longer live, but Christ lives in me. To unpack
more of this revolutionary truth, here's Chip
with today's message titled, You Gotta Die. I
want to talk today about how do you really find
life and hope and peace in a world that's really
messed up. And so we're going to ask four very
basic questions. Question number one, how did
we get here? How did the world get this messed
up? There's chaos out there and there's chaos
in here. And what I want to tell you is the world.
This world that we live in now is not the world
God created. The world that God created, the
eternal creator of all that is, who spoke the
world into existence, created an absolutely perfect
world. The world that you live in is messed up.
God didn't mess it up. We did. But he cares.
And so the question number two is where is God
in the chaos? Here's the message of Easter. Get
this down. Easter is about a divine, Intervention.
Anybody here know what an intervention is? Anybody
had a friend or a relative? I have. And you get
all the family and usually find a pro who's done
this before because you need to know what you're
doing. And you all create this place and then
usually have to trick them to get them there.
And he walks in and he goes, oh, what's going
on? And they say, we love you and you have a
big problem. You know what Easter is? God looking
down from heaven, the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. And the Son saying, let's do an
intervention. Let's help them see that they are
messed up and they are selfish and they need
to die and receive life so they can be resurrected.
And so Jesus came and he did the intervention
to rescue us. His life mission, he said, was
I came to seek and to save those which were lost.
And so the first thing he offered was life because
we're on death patterns. For God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten son that
whoever, underline the word, believe in him should
not perish but have everlasting life. Circle
the word have. Have, present tense, the moment
you believe. And then the very next verse was
probably as life -changing for me as the first
one. For God did not send his son into the world
to judge the world, but he sent his son to save
us. God's not down on you. God's not down on
me. He's not this angry God whose arms are crossed
with a big club who has a lot of rules and just
waiting for you to mess up, to bang over your
head or knock you on the knuckles. His invitation
is not get religious, get more moral, try harder,
pull up your bootstraps. That's not it. It's
an intervention where you say how you're living
your life doesn't work. It's bringing death to
you and death to others. I want to give you life.
There's a gift. And what we're going to learn
is he went to the cross and he died on the cross
for you. He intervened and said, what you can't
do for yourself, I'm going to do. And he literally
paid. That's what the word redemption means.
He paid for your sin and paid for mine. And then
he rose from the grave and says, look, free gift.
That's the message of Easter. And the question
you ought to be asking is if that's the message
of Easter, what gives this Jesus the right to
make that outlandish offer? Don't other religions
have offers about peace and life and hope? I
mean, what makes you think this one's real? Right?
That was my question. Jesus makes this offer
based on four things. First, his life. Sinless,
revealing God's character. If we... could have
found, if his enemies could have found one sin,
the message of Jesus and all of his claims go
out the window. But instead, Jesus said, look,
here's the deal. I've come to do an intervention,
and you have death, life. You want to see what
life looks like? See the poor? I feed them. See
the hungry? I feed them. See the people that
have lost close? I raise them from the dead.
If you have seen me, you've seen the Father.
You want to know what God is like? You see this
prostitute? and the messed up life she's had,
and the four partners, go and sin no more. You
see this lady whose heart's broken, and this
guy that's just lost his daughter? I raise her
from the dead. You see people don't have purpose,
and these religious people and all their pious
stuff? I shoot it straight with them and say,
quit pretending. Quit posturing. Quit being a
hypocrite. His life. I mean, it marks A .D.,
B .C. All of life is around the single solitary
life that's changed the world. And second, his
death. Colossians chapter 2 makes it clear that
when he died, he didn't just physically die because
he was fully God and fully man. Being man, he
could die. Being God, it could be a perfect sacrifice.
And he... covered sin. He broke the penalty of
sin. He conquered death and destroyed the works
of the evil one. His life, his death, and finally
he proved it all with his resurrection. Read
the book of Acts chapters 1 and 2. This isn't
some weird religious philosopher that had dreams
and told people there's a new way to God. This
was someone who was outrageous. He said, I'm
the savior of the world. I'm truth incarnate.
There's no other way but me. He's either right,
wrong, or a lunatic. But you can't even admire
Jesus as a teacher. What kind of teacher would
lie to you? The resurrection proves that what
he said was true. God visited the planet. You
talk about an intervention, he visited the planet
and suffered and lived the perfect life for you.
For you personally, for me. 500 eyewitnesses
for over 40 days that could touch his hands.
They had meals with him. There's a reason we're
sitting in this room. It's not because we're
on the salad bar of the philosophical religious
views of our day. We're sitting in this room
because a real God visited a real planet and
died on a real cross and came back to life and
walked around for 40 days with eyewitnesses and
their lives have been completely transformed.
The tragedy is we've taken that and made it religion.
Because the final point is it's our union with
him. What God has always wanted. The reason he
did the intervention. I mean, you don't do an
intervention so that people end up in a treatment
center and their message is, hey, I go to treatment
centers. I go on Mondays and Wednesdays and Fridays.
I go through the 12 steps. It's a great treatment
center. Have you ever been to a treatment center?
I love treatment centers. Let's be treatment
center people. What you want them to do is have
an intervention and get whole and come back and
love you and be connected to you. The tragedy
of our day and the reason that I opted out of
Christianity as a young person, all they wanted
to do was talk about their religion and telling
me that I wasn't moral enough. I knew I wasn't
moral enough, okay? Give me a break. God's not
trying to improve your morality. God is not trying
to get you to be more religious. He wants you
to be in union in relationship with him. And
when that happens, life, I am crucified. So you
gotta die. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
Paul would say, I live. How? Christ lives inside
of me. Well, how does that work? I put the verse
in it. 2 Corinthians 5, verses 14 and 15. The
apostle Paul, the same one who gave us the secret
counterintuitive means to life and hope and peace
says this. The love of Christ controls us. Having
concluded this, that one, for all, that one Jesus.
Notice the result. Therefore, all died. Why?
And he died for all so that those who live might
live no longer for themselves. Do you feel the
dying? It's not about you. Can you imagine living
a life that it's not about you? It's not about
your dreams and your goals and what you can get
and who you can impress. One died, Jesus. Therefore,
all died. And he died so that we can live no
longer for ourselves, but for him who died and
rose from the dead. Therefore, if any man or
any woman is in Christ, he's a new creation.
The old things pass away. Behold, everything
becomes new. He wants the old you to die. And
he wants to allow his spirit to enter your life
and take up residence in you and make a brand
new you. That little word in Christ or in him
happens 200 times in the New Testament. The message
of the gospel, the message of Easter isn't, this
is what I grew up hearing. If your good deeds
are more than your bad deeds, I guess you get
in. And since we're all in denial, no matter
what I did, I thought, well, it's getting kind
of close, but I think I'm doing pretty good.
Right? God says, let me give you, I am holy,
I am pure, one single bad deed, one single thought
because I'm absolute pure in my holiness. You
can't have relationship with me. I don't want
you trying to get better or to prove or to perform.
I want you to be connected to me and I will do
for you what you could never do for yourself.
You're listening to Living on the Edge, and today's
teaching from Chip Ingram continues in just a
minute. His message is available anytime at livingontheedge
.org. Listen again, share it with a friend, or
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topics like parenting. personal growth, and unchangeable
truths. Plus, find small group resources and
practical tools to help you live the Christian
life every day. It's all waiting for you at livingontheedge
.org. Well, now let's get back to today's message.
Let me give you a picture. This has just helped
me so much. Imagine, if you will, this is a bolt.
Got that? Imagine this bolt is you or me. And
there's certain properties, there's a nature
to a bolt, correct? It's made out of metal. And
let's imagine that this little fish tank, I think,
is what we've got here. And this water is staying
on top of the water is being a good person, a
righteous person, a loving person, a person that
cares about others, a person that's pleasing
to God. Left to yourself and your power and your
effort, when you try and do that, does anybody
have any predictions about where this boat's
going? Okay, let's check this out to make sure.
Yep, it's down there. Well, hold on. Oh, no,
no. Well, maybe we should paint it. Or maybe
it could put a little cross on it, and maybe
the bolt could go to church now and then. Or
it could really try, maybe give away a little
money. You can do all kind of little things with
the bolt, but okay, let's pretend it's painted
and it's really pretty, and it's even religious.
Oops, still got a problem. Because the nature
of the bolt in and of itself is powerless. Here's
the intervention. The intervention is the very
life of Jesus, fully man, fully God, who died
and says when he died, when a person by faith
trusts in him, you died with him, you're buried
with him, so you can be resurrected with him.
Now, what's the nature of wood when I put it
in the water? Predictions. It's the fundamental
property of the wood. It will always float. Now,
get this. This is the gospel. This is the good
news. The good news is not that you can try hard,
become religious, read the Bible, go on a missions
trip, give some money, and try and earn your
way to God. The gospel is none of that can ever
work. But by faith, you can turn from your sin
and you can be united with him. See this rubber
band, this blue one here? It's faith. It's that
moment in specific space -time history. When
you hear and understand that God in the person
of Jesus Christ died for your sin, rose from
the dead, and offers you new life free of charge
that you could never do. And you turn from your
sin and you say, I can't live this life, but
I want to be connected to you. And you said,
whoever believes in you could be connected to
you. I want to be in union with you. See, the
scripture says very clearly, He that has the
Son has life. He that does not have the Son of
God does not have life. These things I've written
to you, the Apostle John would say, that you
might know that you have eternal life. And so
when you have relationship with him, all the
properties now and what's true of Christ becomes
true of you. When you turn from your sin, ask
Christ to come into your life, you're atoned
or forgiven. The Spirit of God enters your life.
He begins to form the life of Christ in you.
He seals you with the Spirit. He takes you from
the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.
He breaks the power of sin. Death forever never
can reign over you again. The moment you die,
you will be ushered into the very presence of
God forever and ever. But you are crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, look, you're living. But
it's not you, it's Christ in you. That's the
message and the offer. And so the question I
have for you is do you have the son? Do you have
the son of God living in you? If you do, you
have eternal life. If you do not, you do not
have life. Notice, I didn't say, do you go to
church? I didn't say, are you moral? I didn't
say, did you read the Bible? I didn't say, if
you give to United Way. All those things may
be very, very good. But none of them have the
power to give you eternal life. And just like
when you make a major union with another person,
it's not just for a certain day or a point in
time. It's for a new life. There's a new path.
It's not about coming to some service and realizing,
oh, I need to be united with Christ. Oh, Father,
please forgive me, and then go off and live the
same way. No, no, no. I died to my old way of
life, and I said to a cute little blonde -haired
girl, I would like to be united with you all
the rest of my days and be on a new path with
you. I did not say, honey, I want you to know
for this day that I'm giving up my old girlfriends
and I want to be married to you and be united
to you and thank you. I'm glad we're married
and I think I'm going to go kind of do. She would
have not been happy with that. Nor me, her doing
that. What I committed to was a new life that
gave me new power to be on a new path. And that's
our final question. What's the path? What's the
counterintuitive path? that brings life and hope
and peace. And it's summarized in Romans chapter
12, the first two verses. The same author, he
says, I urge you therefore, my brethren or brothers
and sisters is the idea. In light of God's mercy,
in other words, in light of what he's done for
you, here's the path that you're on so that you
receive life. Offer your body or present your
body as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable
to God. Then get the last line. This is your
spiritual service of worship. Translation, this
is what God really wants. Once you turn from
your sin and receive the gift on a certain day
at a certain time, are you ready for this? You
gotta die. The reason there's so many Christians
who say I love God and they've prayed a prayer
and done this and done that and they live their
own life and their lives don't resemble Christ,
they never died. You gotta die. You've got to
say, God, not my will, but yours. Jesus died
before he could be resurrected. In nature, if
it doesn't die, it doesn't produce fruit. Unless
a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die,
it remains by itself alone. If it dies, it brings
forth much fruit. Are you ready to die? You know
what? God may be very gracious, but are you ready
to die to some things that you think will make
your life work? See, any person or anything that
your life revolves around, You know what that's
called? That you orbit around? That holds you
up? That's what you worship. Some people, they
worship their job. Some people worship their
mate. Some people worship the fantasy of the
success, the win -win syndrome. When I get the
big job, when I get the house on the hill, when
we get the kitchen remodeled, when we finally
have children, when I finally get married, when
I finally make a lot of money, you know, if I
keep working out, if I can look like this, then...
And we spend our whole days answering emails
and responding to voicemails. Oh, that's busy,
busy, busy, busy. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go,
go. For what? So I can own, control, pose, pretend,
and try and in my own energy be good enough to
get people to love me. And all the while, the
one who came to do the intervention is standing
back, Jesus saying, I've watched this movie a
lot of times. there's not a happy ending coming.
There's not a happy ending in this life and there's
a tragic ending in the next. Will you allow me
to forgive you and do for you what you can never
do for yourself? And will you allow me to come
into your life? And after I do, would you slide
over and let me drive? And I will tell you this,
If I loved you enough to die for you, where I'm
gonna drive this car is better than you could
ever dream. The roads will not always be smooth
and they will not take the turns that you always
like. But if you'll listen to what I have to
say, you'll do some counterintuitive things like
give and you'll receive. You'll love in your
marriage and forgive even when it doesn't come
back and this bizarre thing happens. You get
love back. You'll live the kind of life that
your kids will say, wow, that's the kind of person,
that's the kind of dad, that's the kind of mom
I want to be. Guess what? You can't do this.
Christ in you is the hope of glory. Would you
like to have eternal life beginning today? If
so, I'd like to lead you in a prayer. And for
some, let me tell you, I know, you know. Today
is the day, the Bible says of salvation, you
may not be ready. You know what? But I don't
know when your next window's coming. An intervention
occurred. Option A, I will remain in denial.
I'm doing okay. Everything's okay. I don't have
a problem. Option B, I'm sick and tired of living
the way I am. And I need life and I need hope
and I need peace that I can't get for myself.
And I'm gonna die to my way. And I'm going to
ask God to come into my life so I can follow
him. Those are your options. This is Living on
the Edge with Chip Ingram and a powerful Easter
message. Chip gave us a lot to sit with today.
The bolt that sinks no matter how many times
you paint it. The wood that floats, not because
of anything it does, but because of its nature.
That's the gospel in a fish tank. And the invitation
couldn't be more direct. Stop performing. Stop
posturing. Stop trying to drive. Slide over.
Let Christ take the wheel. If He loves you enough
to die for you, where He's going to take you
is better than anything you could map out on
your own. For over 30 years, Living on the Edge
has existed to bring that message to people who
need it, in their cars, in their homes, in the
quiet moments when they know something has to
change. And it reaches them because partners
like you believe this mission matters. Now, if
you already give to support this ministry, thank
you. Every program, every moment of teaching
that lands at just the right time, it happens
because you said yes. And if you've never given
before, today is the perfect day to start. Join
a community of believers investing in something
that outlasts all of us, the transformation of
lives through God's Word. To give, visit livingontheedge
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make sure you've subscribed to the Living on
the Edge podcast, where you can check out full
-length messages from Chip and take them with
you wherever you go. Subscribe today. Well, now
here's Chip. So let me ask you today, which road
will you take? Option A or Option B? You know,
we all face these windows of spiritual decision.
It's not an accident that you're hearing my voice
right now. The God of the universe made you.
created you, loves you. He sent his son to die
in your place for your sin. He rose from the
dead. It's historical. It's factual. It's true.
But all that has got to move from your head to
your heart. And today is the day, is what the
Bible says, of salvation. So what will you do?
Will you receive his offer? And if so, do it
right now with me. In our church, I prayed a
prayer. with a number of people whose entire
eternity changed because their trust shifted
from themselves to Christ. And that's what you
need to do right now. You can pray if this is
the desire of your heart. Dear God, I admit today
before you that I fall short, that I've sinned,
that I'm not the man, the woman, the parent,
the person that I know I need to be. I want to
ask you right now to forgive me for all of my
sins. I ask you to come into my life right now.
And I believe and trust that your son, the Lord
Jesus, died to pay for my sin. I believe he rose
from the dead to give me eternal life. Please
make me your son. Make me your daughter. I trust
you right now in Jesus' name. And Father, thank
you for your forgiveness. Grant me power and
strength to walk with you all the days of my
life. If you just prayed that with me, you can
go to our website and there's a portion there
where you can click for new believers where we
can give you some help. And secondly, tell someone
today what you've done. The person you think
is the greatest Christian that you know, tell
them, I prayed to receive Christ today. And then
this Easter weekend, find a good Bible teaching
church and celebrate your new life. Just go to
livingontheedge .org slash salvation to connect.
I'm Dave Drewy, and we'll see you next time for
more practical Bible teaching here on the weekend
edition of Living on the Edge. Today's program
is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.