SOMETHING TO HOLD ON TO

Every life, without exception, lives through dark hours. No one escapes days when all circumstances say the worst is inevitable. We all experience times when we are overwhelmed with setbacks, losing struggles, and painful realities which dominate our today's and threaten our tomorrows.

The key to survival is this :

“SOMETHING TO HOLD ON TO”

or

“SOMETHING TO KEEP US GOING”

Many things create dark hours: relationship problems, financial problems, career problems, family crisis, death of a loved one, national crisis, wars, undesirable life changes– the list is endless! To survive such crises there must be a truth so strong, so great that not even the worst circumstance can veil it.

FOR ALL OF JUDAISM IN THE OLD TESTAMENT AND FOR ALL CHRISTIANS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, GOD DECLARED THAT TRUTH EXISTED.

n For the Old Testament Jew and the

New Testament Christian, the truth

was the same:

GOD’S LOVE

I want you to consider the importance

of the Exodus and the Cross.

n THERE IS AN INCREDIBLE PARALLEL BETWEEN THE JEWISH EXODUS FROM EGYPT AND JESUS’ CROSS ON CALVARY

Look carefully at the great similarity between the exodus and the cross.

* The Jews were in bondage to

Egypt; people were in bondage to

sin.

* The Jews existed under an abusive ruler who exploited them to their own hurt and destruction; people were under

Satan who exploited them to their own

hurt and destruction.

* The Jews in Egypt had not yet become God’s

covenant people.

* Those Jews were totally powerless to deliver

themselves from their slavery; people were

totally powerless to deliver themselves from

slavery under sin.

* In bondage, the Jews did not know God’s true

identity and doubted His ability to deliver

them; in sin people did not know God’s true

identity and doubted His ability to save them.

* For the Jews, God provided a leader (Moses); for

people in sin, God provided a leader, a savior

(Jesus).

* To the Jews, God proved deliverance was His

work through Moses’ signs; to those in sin, God

proved deliverance was His work through Jesus’

signs.

* For the Jews, deliverance is totally God’s work-

all they did was obediently follow; for sinners,

deliverance is totally God’s work – all we do is

obediently follow.

* With the Jews, God provided victory through

what seemed certain defeat at the Red Sea; with

sinners, God provided victory through what

seemed certain defeat at Jesus’ death and burial.

* With the Jews, God established a perpetual

memorial to be continually observed

(PASSOVER); with them delivered from sin God

established a perpetual memorial to be

continually observed (THE LORD’S SUPPER).

As fascinating as all those parallels are, none of them is the essential parallel.

* The exodus was the undeniable

proof of God’s love for Israel.

* The cross is the undeniable proof

of God’s love for all sinners.

* No thinking Jew of understanding could take the

Passover without thinking of God’s great love!

* No thinking Christian of understanding can take

the Lord’s Supper without thinking of God’s

great love for sinners.

* It was and is impossible to take either and not

know this truth:

“GOD LOVES US!”

THE CENTRAL UNENDING PROOF OF GOD’S LOVE FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE WAS THE EXODUS.

To this day, the best known act of God in Israelite

history is the exodus under Moses’ leadership.

* It is the central event of the Old Testament.

* It marked the beginning of Israel as a nation.

* It marked the point that they as a people became

God’s representatives which He promised

Abraham.

* It was the divine act of God anointing the

Jewish people to function as His nation.

The Passover was instituted to be an annual reminder of God’s deliverance.

Exodus 12:17

"Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread,

because it was on this very day that I

brought your divisions out of Egypt.

Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance

for the generations to come.”

Deuteronomy 16:3

“Do not eat it with bread made with yeast,

but for seven days eat unleavened bread,

the bread of affliction, because you left

Egypt in haste--so that all the days of your

life you may remember the time of your

departure from Egypt.”

The exodus was the foundation on which

the Ten Commandments stood.

Exodus 19:3-6

(3 ) “Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD

called to him from the mountain and said, "This

is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and

what you are to tell the people of Israel:

(4) `You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt,

and how I carried you on eagles' wings and

brought you to myself.

(5) “Now if you obey me fully and keep my

covenant, then out of all nations you will be my

treasured possession. Although the whole earth

is mine,

(6) you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a

holy nation.' These are the words you are to

speak to the Israelites.“

* The point is clear: Israel should keep

God’s laws because God is the God of

their deliverance.

Throughout Old Testament history, the undeniable proof of God’s love for Israel was the exodus.

If in the horrible period of the Judges, or during Samuels lifetime or during the Babylonian captivity, we asked a faithful Jew, “Does God still love Israel?” he would have said,

“YES! UNQUESTIONABLY!”

* If we responded , “How can you say that

with all these horrible things happening?”

* He would say, “ The exodus is proof God never

stops loving us!’

THE EXODUS PROVED GOD’S LOVE!

Just as the exodus was the irrefutable proof of God’s love for ancient Israel, the cross is the irrefutable proof of God’s love for all people.

The unquestionable proof that God loves us is Jesus’ death and resurrection.

* What God did for all people in Jesus Christ’s

cross cannot be exaggerated.

* Without Jesus’ death and resurrection,

Christianity would not exist.

* We can exist as Christians only because of

Jesus’ cross and resurrection.

* God’s cost in redeeming us from our sins is

too great to comprehend.

The central importance of Jesus’ cross as the proof of God’s love for us is powerfully stressed in the New Testament.

Romans 5:6-11

(6) “You see, at just the right time, when we were

still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

(7) Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man,

though for a good man someone might possibly

dare to die.

(8) But God demonstrates his own love for us in

this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for

us.

(9) “Since we have now been justified by his

blood, how much more shall we be saved

from God's wrath through him!

(10) For if, when we were God's enemies, we were

reconciled to him through the death of his

Son, how much more, having been reconciled,

shall we be saved through his life!

(11) Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God

through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom

we have now received reconciliation.”

Romans 8:31-34

(31) “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If

God is for us, who can be against us?

(32) He who did not spare his own Son, but gave

him up for us all--how will he not also, along

with him, graciously give us all things?

(33) Who will bring any charge against those whom

God has chosen? It is God who justifies.

(34) Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who

died--more than that, who was raised to life--is

at the right hand of God and is also interceding

for us.”

2 Corinthians 5:14,15

(14) “For Christ's love compels us, because

we are convinced that one died for all,

and therefore all died.

(15) And he died for all, that those who live

should no longer live for themselves

but for him who died for them and was

raised again.”

Ephesians 5:1,2

(1) “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children

(2) and live a life of love, just as Christ

loved us and gave himself up for us as a

fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Hebrews 12:1-3

(1 ) “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great

cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that

hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let

us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

(2) Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter

of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured

the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the

right hand of the throne of God.

(3) Consider him who endured such opposition from

sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose

heart.”

1 John 3:16-18

(16) “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ

laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay

down our lives for our brothers.

(17) If anyone has material possessions and sees his

brother in need but has no pity on him, how can

the love of God be in him?

(18) Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue

but with actions and in truth.”

How can we know God loves us?

* There are many evidences of His love for us,

but no evidence equals the proof of Jesus’

cross.

* When we are in circumstances where all

other evidences seem to fail, Jesus’ cross still

stands.

The Cross and the Resurrection says,

“ THE SACRIFICED JESUS

REIGNS NOW!”

* “ That Jesus, God’s sacrificial lamb, proves

God’s continuing love!”

* “ The crucified, resurrected Jesus proves your

victory is certain!”

Without doubt all Christians will face dark hours that challenge their faith in God’s love and concern.

* In that moment, the Christian must never

fail to see Jesus’ cross.

We must be able to say,

* “ I cannot explain the circumstances.”

* “ I cannot explain what is happening.”

* “ I cannot explain my suffering.”

* “ But I know God’s love for me is irrefutable.”

* “ Not even this uproots the truth of Jesus’ cross.”

* “ If he loved me that much, He still loves me.”

That is the truth that empowers you to hold on in life’s darkest hours.