Idiom: chapter and verse (used idiomatically: yes)
He did n't use it this time , I remember a number of years ago here in he used an illustration of the pig , you know you can polish the pig up , you can clean it , you can scrub it , you can oh de cologne it , you can do all sorts of things with it , you can tie a nice pink ribbon around it and you can put it in a palace , but it 's still a pig and it lives like a pig and you can cl and no matter how clean you 've made it , it 'll soon find some dirt to wallow in and the ribbon might make it look nice in the show ground but it does n't make any difference to its nature and so it is with us and so Jesus did n't start on the outside , but he starts at the inside he deals with the route of the problem , in One Corinthians chapter fifteen and in verse three it says for I deliver to you as a first importance , this is the basic thing , he says to them this was the first thing that I said to you because it was the most important that Christ died for our sins , according to the scripture , what ever else Christ gives to us , what ever else he does for us , what ever else the gospel produces , the basic , the most important , the fundamental thing is that Christ died for our sins . One of the accusations used and levelled against er against Christianity against the , the evangelical message , against things like the , the mission of Graham and , and others is that it , it does n't meet the needs the , the material needs of people but if you deal with the persons spiritual needs , if their sins are forgiven , those problems that are causing the material problem , it 's amazing how there are dealt with as well , the best way to sober up a person , the best way to deal with a person who 's an alcoholic , the best way to deal with a person who is a drug addict , the best way to deal with a person who , who commits adultery is not by telling them the wrongs of those things , it 's not by trying to , to , to do , to , to , you know , to , to counsel them it 's presenting the gospel allowing Jesus Christ to come into their lives and to forgive them , that will make the person sober quicker than all the counselling in the world and Paul says I brought you the most important the fundamental thing , that Christ died for our sins Paul again when he 's writing to the Romans in chapter five and verse eight he says but God demonstrates his own love towards us , in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us so God did in Jesus Christ what we could n't do for ourselves , so all of you have sin , so all of my sin , and he came and he died on the cross and as he was dying there was that transmit there , for he was n't dying for his own sin buy he was dying for your sin and for mine , it was all piled on him and so when we except what Christ has done , when we come to that place and yes I believe that you died for me , that my sin was laid on you , now what happens is that our relationship with God is restored , that , that chasm , that , that gulf that we 've been trying to get across with our good works with our church attendance with all these other things , suddenly we are , our land with a bridge across it , there 's no longer a barrier there , there 's no longer a great gulf there , Jesus Christ has bridged it , that broken relationship has restored and from this relationship the basis of that relationship we have the power to become as God made us . If you want in Colossians chapter one in verse twenty seven , it 's , it 's given again very simply , again can I use J B Phillips , he puts it like this , he says the secret is simply this , Christ in you yes he says Christ in you , bringing with him the hope of all the glorious things to come , so what God does he comes in to this situation that 's marred that 's warped , that 's twisted and he comes in by himse , Jesus Christ comes into it , he becomes the central point , the focal point and that circle , it starts to get dealt with , that marred twisted like , it does n't happen being like that , we knew creation straight away , we do n't have to work at that , but he , as we allow him to dwell in us and to work out his purpose , he restores that relationship with God and God starts to fashion us , he starts to work on us and bring us back into how he originally created us .