Three Men

(Note: At first, only draw the head and shoulders in the prison window, then later draw the body outside the prison wall.)

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, my name is ____ and I am going to do something very interesting with this paintbrush: I will make yellow letters using black paint! You can see I want to tell you about three men. They are ordinary people like you and me. Each one has hopes and dreams, things he really wants, just like us.

The first man is looking out of a window. Is he happy? Hard to tell from the expression on his face. But what if I draw bars on this window? No, he is not happy now. What does he really want? Yes, freedom! We may not be looking through prison bars, but there are things in our lives that have us trapped, bad habits that have us in their grip, and we need freedom. So let's give this man his freedom. With this paintbrush it is easy. Now he is on the outside looking in!

This second man is standing in a park. He is wearing a blue shirt. Is he happy? Well, let's see. He has met a young lady who is wearing a red dress and has red hair. She is very pretty, and now he is very happy -- see, they are holding hands! All of us want someone to love us: to value us as a special person and to accept us just as we are.

This third man is lying on a bed, but he is not happy to be having a rest. He is very sick in the hospital. Here are the eyes of the doctors who are trying to help him. There is a machine near his bed this is going, "beep... beep... beep..." What does he really want? Yes, he wants to get better, he wants to live, he want life! But the machine has gone, "beep... beep... beep... beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep." His doctors are not happy. All of us want to live, and not a life of mere existence, perhaps lying on a hospital bed hooked up to a machine. We want a life full of meaning and purpose. Yes, we all want freedom, and love, and a meaningful life.

Now I will tell you about three other men who, like this third man, have all died. They died the death of criminals on a cross 2,000 years ago. On the two outside crosses were men who were thieves. They are like us, because we have all done wrong. We may not be thieves, but we know that we are not perfect, we have all sinned. These men had been caught, and now they were paying the penalty. But on the center cross was the Lord Jesus Christ. He had done no wrong. He was perfect. But the authorities did not like that He had taught that He was the Son of God. So they crucified Him. He also died to pay the penalty for sin, but not His own sin. He died for our sins!

• He died for all those things that trap us and have us in their grip. He died so that we can be free from sin and from its penalty. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, eternal seperation from God. But we can have freedom!
• He died to show us God's great love. He loves us and values us so much that He was willing to lay down His life for us. Human love is a great thing, but it is only temporary. God's love lasts forever, and we can know and experience that love in a personal way.
• He died so that it is possible for us to really live. Jesus promises us an abundant life now, and a life that will never end. A doctor may be able to prolong our life in this world, but he cannot give us eternal life. God can give us eternal life in heaven!

But there is something we must do. We must choose. On these two crosses the thieves had to choose. This thief chose to listen to Jesus and accept what He said. Jesus said to him, "Today, you will be with me in heaven." The other thief chose to ignore the words of Jesus. He wanted freedom from the cross to live in this world. But he did not choose Jesus, so he chose eternal seperation from God in hell.

What will you choose tonight? Heaven or hell? Jesus died, but He came to life again. The tomb was empty. There were angels wearing bright shining clothes. Because He is alive, He can hear us when we call on Him. The Bible says that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Will you choose Jesus tonight?