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• Illustration: A Vietnam veteran came to Chicago and marched in the veteran's homecoming parade to honor a soldier who died in his place.
• Communion is the Christian's memorial for the one who died in our place.
• Illustration: Imagine the shock of a federal judge handing out a justly deserved sentence, then taking off his robes and paying the penalty for the guilty party.
• On the cross, Jesus took the penalty of our sin upon himself.
• The Christian message is simple enough for a child to understand, but understanding is not enough.

• Illustration: People believed in the ability of the man who crossed Niagara falls on a tight rope pushing a wheelbarrow, but they didn't trust enough to actually get in the wheelbarrow themselves.
• There is an uncrossable chasm between sinful people and a holy God.
• We may understand and believe God's offer of salvation, but will we entrust our lives to him?

• Illustration: There are a variety of ways people evaluate God's offer: as intellectuals; activists; engineers, and so on.
• We’d rather do almost anything than put our fate, our destiny in someone else’s hands.
• We cannot do a single thing to cross the chasm by ourselves.

• When we admit our sin, and entrust our lives to Christ, he will take us all the way to the other side.