Sermon Tone Analysis

It Couldn’t Be Any Easier

Isaiah 45:22

 

There many sayings in our culture that refer to the simplicity of a thing…how easy something is.

Easy as 1,2,3.

Easy as A,B,C.

Simple as pie, a piece of cake.

Like taking candy from a baby.

One office supply company has marketed the “Easy Button.”

I think we often realize that things that are advertised of being easy are actually quite complex.

I marvel at the complexity of our God.

He created this world; something        6 billion people and all of the technology have not been able to duplicate , or even explain how it all came to be.

He designed our wonderful bodies, and gave us the ability to reason—I think we have to admit that all of this design is very complex.

But there is a side of God, or at least a plan of God that falls into the category of easy.

Defined:  Not difficult; that gives or requires no great labor or exertion; that presents no great obstacles.

That was easy enough.

What we are talking about this morning is how the infinite Creator of the universe has made the most important decision you will ever make very easy.

Let me read our text one more time

/Isaiah 45:22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else/.

What is the desired result?

The salvation of mankind.

People may assume because of God’s intricate nature that the way of salvation must de difficult.

I hope to show you this morning that being saved is one of the easiest things there is to do, and any difficulties in the plan of salvation are not of God.

I want to preach a message this morning called, “It Couldn’t Be Any Easier.”

The only thing that will be difficult is that I am going to work through the verse backwards.

I even made the points all start with the same letter—How Easy!

 

I.

* The Choice*.

I am God and there is none else.

While I was in school, I always preferred the multiple choice questions to the essay or short answer format.

I always felt that if I had paid attention in class, read my assignment, and took decent notes, I would recognize the correct answer if it was put in front of me.

Those tests were fairly easy for me.

But the way God narrows down the choices among all of the false gods in this world; It couldn’t be any easier.

I am God.

There is none else, there is no one else, and there is nothing else.

You could say the choice for our salvation is exclusive.

/Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved/.

Let’s eliminate any misconceptions this morning.

If you are convinced that there is salvation in any other, god, idol, doctrine, tradition, or performance, you have missed the most important message in the Bible.

/John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me/.

We live in a pluralistic society.

That means our society cannot be satisfied with just one choice.

Maybe you have seen these bumper stickers in our town that say, “Coexist.”

The crescent and star for Islam; the pentagram for Wicca; the relativity formula for science; the star of David for Judaism; the Karma Wheel dotting the i for Buddhism; the Tao symbol for Taoism; the cross for Christianity.

The reality is that there is a multitude of different religions, but religion does not pave the path to Heaven, that was done by the work of Jesus Christ, the shedding of His blood, His death on the Cross, and His glorious resurrection on the 3rd day.

It couldn’t be any easier.

II.

*The Chance*.

All the ends of the earth.

I have this picture in my mind of God not being satisfied with the sowing of the Gospel seed until everyone has had an opportunity to hear.

It is right in line with the Great Commission.

/Luke 24:47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem./

/Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature./

Its indicative of the end times.

/Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come/.

Can you imagine a God that has condemned a soul to Hell?

The Bible says that we are condemned already by our unbelief, and by our sinful nature.

But God has opened the door of opportunity so that anyone can be saved.

/Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved/.

No one will ever be able to say something like this in their present life or in eternity: “Well I tried to get saved, but God would not accept me.”

/2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance/.

*Steve McQueen Illustration.*

/Titus 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began/; It couldn’t be any easier.

III.  *The Charge*.

Look unto me, and be ye saved.

Notice that it does not say look to me and be baptized.

Look to me and say your prayers.

Look to me and pay your tithes.

Look to me and join this church.

Look to me and turn over a new leaf.

It simply says Look unto me.

I think we have a wonderful Bible illustration of this truth found in *Numbers 21:6-9*.

Just a simple look.

It is a look of faith.

/John 3:14-16 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life/.

Anyone can look, anyone can believe.

God has designed the Gospel to be understood by a child, and adults often miss the point by trying to make it too hard.

Spurgeon was on his way to church one Sunday morning when a snowstorm hit London.

Because he couldn’t make it to his church, he stopped at a little church along the way.

The storm was so severe that the preacher did not make it to this little church, so a man got up and said a few words.

Spurgeon never knew the man’s name; he only knew that he was an uneducated man.

He chose Isaiah 45:22 as his text, and what he lacked in lightning, he made up for in thunder.

He said, “This verse says, ‘Look unto me, and be ye saved.’

” He began to talk about the verse.

“God says you should /look/ to Him and be /saved/.”

By that time he ran out of ammunition.

He had said all he could say about the verse, so he went into the thunder department and began to roar and pound the pulpit, “Look to God, all the ends of the earth, and be saved.”

He looked way back in the congregation and saw the young fellow Spurgeon sitting there with a very miserable look on his face.

The man said to Spurgeon, “You look to Jesus, and you will be saved.”

Spurgeon was a very brilliant man, but he did what this ignorant man suggested—he looked to Jesus and was saved.[1]

It couldn’t be any easier.

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[1]McGee, J. Vernon: /Thru the Bible Commentary/.

electronic ed.

Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1981, S. 3:297-298