Intro skit… And that is exactly what Jesus did for us.  That is how deep his love for us runs.  You and I, my friends, are the mother of the king.  Oh yeah, you would think we should be the ones who are well-behaved.  One would think that we would have no trouble keeping the law!  Those other people would be the ones getting in trouble with the King, right? 

Truth is, we all have.  Like the mother of the king in our story, no matter how well you have lived your life, you and I have slipped up.  Even if only once.  (But I am sure it has been a few more times J).  And because of that, we deserve the “public punishment.”  But friends, here is where love entered the picture!  The King Himself stepped into our place.

As the cool haze dissipated during the early morning hours of May 7, 1954, construction began for a five-mile long bridge that would link the upper and lower peninsulas of the state of Michigan.  It was an amazing achievement, since the waters below, called the Mackinac Straits, were previously only served by ferries, often causing travel delays of up to 36 hours.  Requiring more than a million steel bolts, 466,300 cubic yards of concrete, 42,000 miles of cable wire, 11,350 workers, and nearly a billion dollars, the engineering feat, building the longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere, was finally open to the public 3 ½ years of grueling labor later.

Now, isn’t that a lot of trouble to go through for a single bridge?  But if you look throughout history, you will see that people have often willingly gone to such lengths in undertaking this type of monumental feat.  Any guesses why?  Because the desire to span a chasm is just that great!

People on one cliff want to visit residents on another cliff.  Merchants want to reach customers on the other side.  Families and friends want access to each other.  People want access to get to places they really want to go.  People want to be connected to people.  The desire to span a chasm is so great that whole communities and cities and nations have been built beginning with a “bridge” to the other side.  People need to be connected to people.

People also need to be connected to God.  There has been a vast chasm separating people from God.  And almost since the beginning of time, people have been consumed by the desire to somehow get over the chasm separating them from God.

But how in the world would that be possible? As people listened to their consciences, and as they observed the universe around them, they knew in the bottom of their hearts that there was a God above and over all of this.  A God who must be awesome and holy and perfect.  And when God revealed Himself in his Word, all these thoughts were confirmed.  God is holy.  Perfect.  High above us.  There’s a lot of distance between the Creator and his creation.  If we can’t even live up to our own standards, and God’s are so much higher than ours, then how in the world could we ever live up to His standards?  It would be impossible!  Who here thinks they have really lived up to the standards of the God who created this universe?  C’mon, we’ve fallen far short.  The Bible makes that certain.  And it says even if we only fail once, we don’t make it to the other side.  You aren’t going to insist you’ve been perfect, are you?  We have fallen far short of jumping across the chasm to the other side of God’s perfection.

Doesn’t your conscience agree with the realization that we have fallen far short?  Like even the king’s mother did, we have failed our God.  So trying to span the chasm between us and God would require a Herculean effort surpassing the building of the MackinacBridge!

Over time, faith systems, religious systems emerged that tried to address the question that was on everyone’s mind:  How are we going to reach a holy God?  One approach after another came into vogue, hoping to bridge the gap that existed, but they all had one thing in common:  the construction effort to cover the chasm always began on humankind’s side.

The thinking was that all people had to do to reach God was fly a little straighter, pray a little harder, live more nobly, become more religious, and perform more charitable deeds.  The idea was that a person’s massive construction efforts amassed during the course of a lifetime could bridge the chasm between them and God and entitle them to access with Him.  “Hopefully,” they thought, “by the end of our lives, we’ll have worked our way to the other side where we can enjoy a thriving, vibrant relationship with God for all of eternity.”

Check out the religions for yourself.  See if you don’t agree that not only does every major world religion suggest you attempt to bridge the gap through your own efforts, but also there is no comfort or assurance that you will actually get it done before you die!  Every religion, that is, except one:  Biblical Christianity.

The Bible gives us the remarkable account of how that un-crossable chasm between God and people was spanned.  God saw the chasm that separated immoral men and women like you and me from Him.  He recognized that the infinite distance between us was more immense than we could begin to imagine.  God knew that no amount of human construction – no amount of bridge work – would ever be enough to span a chasm that wide.  So, motivated by his huge gigantic heart of LOVE, God took on the chasm-spanning responsibility Himself.  He laid the foundation.  He built a bridge that went the distance to reach sinful man.  “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  (Rom.5:8).  He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross for us – the cross that would serve as the ultimate bridge!

It was a lot of trouble to go through for a single bridge!  But God’s desire to span the chasm was just that great!  After hours of grueling labour that demanded Christ’s physical blood, sweat, and tears, God declared that his bridge was now open to the public.  Ready to be crossed by you and me and everyone!  Because of what Christ has done for you, you can be assured that the bridge between you and God has already been built!  So – take off your hard hat, drop your tools, and stop trying to build your own rickety bridge!  God’s bridge is complete and ready to be crossed!  Stop trying to work yourself over to God with your efforts. Stop beating yourself up with guilt.  The bridge has already been built.  It has been built for you by Jesus Christ.

BRIDGE ILLUSTRATION.  Let me illustrate for you… God created us in his own image to be his friend, and experience a full life assured of his abundant love eternally.  Since God planned for us to have this abundant life right now, whey are most people not experiencing this?  Well, He didn’t make us as robots to automatically love and obey Him.  He gave us a will and a choice.  We chose to disobey God and go our own way.  A choice we keep making.  This results in separation from God. So you have us on one side and God on the other.  We all fall short.  On our own, there is no way we can attain the perfection to bridge the gap to God.  Good works won’t do it… or religion… or money… or morality… or philosophy.  All fall short.  Not only are we separated from God and not enjoying all He has planned for us, but there is also a price for our sinfulness.  The gap between us and God is death.  “The wages of sin is death.”

But thankfully Romans 6:23 doesn’t end there.  It continues:  “But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Because God loved us so much, He intervened so that we would have a means of being connected with Him.  His solution was to choose his Son, Jesus, to serve as the bridge.  Jesus Christ is the only answer to this problem.  He died on the cross and rose from the grave, He stepped in like that king and took the punishment we deserved, even while we were sinful, to pay our penalty, and bridge the gap between us and God!

Friends, whoever crosses that bridge will live with God forever.  Jesus says in our Bible text: “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”  So friends, whether you are living with hopelessness and fear and guilt, because you think getting to God is an impossible mystery, or whether you are constantly trying to build your own bridge across with hard efforts, know that God has built that bridge for you!  He just wants you to trust Him!  To walk across that bridge!  He even promises to carry you across!  God’s invitation to you is this:  “Drop your trowel and take off the hard hat you’ve been wearing all this time.  Just walk across the bridge that I constructed out of my love for you, and once and for all, child, please come home.”

John was the youngest child of a very poor family of 12 children. He never remembered his father eating a meal with the rest of the family. He had to work long hours to feed his family. One day his father ran off with another woman, leaving his mother to care for all 12 children. At age 6, his mother told him through tears that she was going to put him up for adoption along with 3 of his sisters. She told him she had no choice. If she didn’t take this step they would starve.

She placed an ad in a newspaper of a nearby town and within 3 days a couple responded. When the day finally came for John to leave, he said it was the worst day of his life. They were at the train station, ready to say their last good-byes. He said, “When the conductor reached down to take me from my mother’s arms I felt something die on the inside of me.” His new family was very loving and kind, but it wasn’t the same. John lived with the constant fear that one day they would give him away too.  He grew into adulthood and finally went out on his own. He spent year after year absorbed in his work, trying to bury the deep hurt in his soul.

One day, in a moment of great discouragement, he visited a church, hoping he would hear a word that would boost his spirits.  Little did he know that his life would be changed forever.  The preacher talked about how God had bridged the gap between Him and us.  And about how God wants us to cross that bridge He built and be with Him forever.  John heard the gospel - how God loves to adopt people into his forever family.  And as these words electrified his heart, God reached across that canyon, took his hand and walked him across the bridge.  John was brought to faith in Jesus as “the way, the truth, and the life.” The only way to the Father.  As his soul was reborn, the ache in his heart was healed.  God assured John He would never abandon him, never send him away.  After years of turmoil and hate, John felt loved and accepted.  He now had a security he never dreamed possible.  As if the Lord told him, “John, I know about that day at the train station.  I know how you felt.  I’ve been waiting all these years to adopt you into my family.  To lead you to cross that bridge and live abundantly with me forever! Welcome home, child!”

Friends, God gives you the same good news.  The chasm is spanned.  Your debt is paid.  The bridge is built.  Welcome home, my dear child!   Amen.

-Bridge Illustration thoughts and quotes from Bill Hybel’s book “Walk Across the Room”