WHY BE RELIGIOUS?: JESUS DIED FOR YOU
(Message by Tanny Keng)
1. Why Be Religious?
a) If you ask, “Why be religious?” We assume you genuinely want to know the answer. Some people say, “Why be religious?” but mean, “I don't see any point in religion.” Not you, we hope. we'll try to give good reasons for being religious.
b) First we must be a little critical of religious people. Some folk are religious, yet when asked why they are so, they cannot "give a reason" (1 Peter 3:15). Such people are only emotionally religious. Their religion is not "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). Their web of faith is weak and without integrity, because it is not spun from the answers in the gospel to life’s fundamental questions.
c) To those elemental questions, the answers are, like the spider’s web, at once both simple yet profound. While there may be many answers to the question, “Why be religious?” Two reasons are outstanding; and both of them are linked to death.
d) Here is one of them.
2. Jesus Died For You
a) Victory over death is possible! The Lord Jesus made it so by his own death and by his resurrection from the dead.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
1 Corinthians 15:20-23
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
b) Christ himself bore our sins in his body on the cross (1 Peter 2:24). There is no better reason to follow him and be very religious about it.
The End ...
1. Why Be Religious?a) If you ask, “Why be religious?” We assume you genuinely want to know the answer. Some people say, “Why be religious?” but mean, “I don't see any point in religion.” Not you, we hope. we'll try to give good reasons for being religious.
b) First we must be a little critical of religious people. Some folk are religious, yet when asked why they are so, they cannot "give a reason" (1 Peter 3:15). Such people are only emotionally religious. Their religion is not "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). Their web of faith is weak and without integrity, because it is not spun from the answers in the gospel to life’s fundamental questions.
c) To those elemental questions, the answers are, like the spider’s web, at once both simple yet profound. While there may be many answers to the question, “Why be religious?” Two reasons are outstanding; and both of them are linked to death.
d) Here is one of them.
2. Jesus Died For You
a) Victory over death is possible! The Lord Jesus made it so by his own death and by his resurrection from the dead.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
1 Corinthians 15:20-23
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
b) Christ himself bore our sins in his body on the cross (1 Peter 2:24). There is no better reason to follow him and be very religious about it.
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