Cross of Christ

The Cross of Power the Cross of Love

Lesson Text:

Preached in ___ on ___

Introduction:

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God created Man from the dust of the ground. Woman God created from the man’s rib.

Gen 2:15-17 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

            The Woman took the fruit and ate as well as to give it to her husband and He ate it and from that point on we have lived in a fallen state.

We disobey God and the distance increases between us and our Creator. No matter how much we try we can’t live a life of sinlessness. 

I think most of us know that sin causes death.  The wages of sin is death.

We rebelled against God in the Garden and from that point on Man has continued to rebel.

Why do we gather on Sunday and why do we gather at the table? God wanted to have a relationship with Man and did until the time when the Man and Woman rebelled against God But you know that God Our God did not strike them down or even leave them to their own. He came in the garden and spoke to them and clothed them. Oh sure the man and woman tried to make some kind of covering for themselves but there sinful and sinful man can’t cloth himself from sin. But God can. And he promised that in time he would send one who would strike the devil down and cloth man in sinlessness He would save man from their sins.

In Isaiah 53:4 -5, Matthew 27:33-37, Matthew 28:5-7, Matthew 28:18-20

1.      The Cross shows Christ’ power over Satan

a.       In Genesis 3:15 God promises that the seed of the women will come into this world and crush the serpents head. That is exactly what happened. Jesus was born and through living a sinless life he took our sins on himself and paid the price for sin which we all know is death. That was what Satan did not want to happen. He wanted to defeat God and man by stopping this from happening.  Satan is not all knowing so he didn’t know who the seed of the women was. That was why at the very onset of human population Satan starts to attack the seed of the women. We all know the story of Cain and Able. Cain kills his brother Able. Satan has won. Right Wrong, God brings into this world Seth and through Seth will come the one who will crush Satan’s head.

2.      The Cross shows Christ’ power over Sin

a.       The very nature of Sin is destruction. It pulls us away from God.

                                                              i.      Gen 2:15-17 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

b.      We disobey God and the distance increases between us and our Creator. We try but can’t live a life of sinlessness.

c.       I was talking to a women I work with who is a Buddhist and we got on the subject of right and wrong and sin. Now what she told me was that bad karma or sinning is to be avoided and good karma or doing what is good is desirable. Now the consequence for doing sinful things is rebirth or reincarnation. You keep coming back but as a Buddhist you want to go on to Enlightenment or nothingness. So I asked her if she was sinless she said no and I said well how will you get to end this rebirth she said I will have to keep coming back until I pay for my sins. Well that’s fine if we could stop sinning but we can’t. We need help.

d.      Now we all know that Buddhism is just plain wrong. But most people in this world will tell you that all you need to do in order to get to heaven is to be a good person. Well I’m sorry but I have never met a good person. Some people are more sinful than others but no one is sinless. Only Jesus was sinless. I can’t get to heaven on my own. I need Jesus. But the one to come the seed of the women is sinless and through his sacrifice we are able to have that lost relationship with God.

3.      The Cross shows Christ’ power over Death

a.       Jesus shows us his power over death by rising on the third day. If you’re a Christian and have been baptized into Christ your headed home to a place of Eternal life. Jesus will show his power over death by giving us eternal life in heaven. So you see his power over death was not just that he beat it and was raised to life again but that he is able to raise all mankind to life. Death is not the end but only the beginning. If you’re a Christian you have a promise land to go to. If you’re not you really need to give serious though to what is going to happen to you at the end of your life. Will you rise with Christ and see Eternal life or will you see Eternal death.

Conclusion: