JESUS NAILED IT TO THE CROSS

Colossians 2:13–14 “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;” (KJV)

A story is told about a graffiti artist in

Greensboro, North Carolina who had

been in jail for three nights. He’d been

accused of defacing a church. He did

it, alright. There was no use trying to

deny it. His lawyer promised to get a

plea deal for him if he would confess.

The day finally came that he would

have to face the judge, hear the charge

and enter his plea. He knew what he

would do. He would confess, enter his

plea of guilty, and hope for a light

sentence.

The courtroom wasn’t packed. No one

cared about this graffiti artist. He was

alone in his guilt. The judge came in,

sat down, and asked the prosecutor to

define the charges. Someone from the

church slipped the prosecutor a note.

“Your honor”, the baffled prosecutor

said, “the church is dropping all

charges against this man.” The judge

pounded his gavel and said, “You are

free to go.”

Strange justice, wasn’t it? He was

guilty but he was free to go. But that’s

exactly the kind of justice God handed

out on Calvary. We were are all

guilty…but God dropped the guilt on

Jesus. And if we confess Him as our

Savior…we are free to go. God has

tempered His justice with mercy.

JESUS NAILED IT TO THE CROSS

1 John 3:4 says that sin is

transgression of the law. Who’s law?

The Lord’s! But we are forgiven. We

don’t think much about our own

forgiveness. We take it for granted that

our loving God won’t punish us for the

many sins we have committed

because we know the charges have

been dropped. God nailed all of our

sins to Christ’s Cross.

But wait a minute. If we are going to

fully understand and appreciate what

Christ did for us, we must first

understand the seriousness of sin.

Let’s look at Sin’s Desire.

Sin desires to destroy our relationship

with God. You know the story in

Genesis. “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.” (Genesis 3:6).

Her actions were provoked by an angel

in the form of a serpent.

It’s hard to accept that an angel of God

destroyed the destiny of mankind. It’s

hard to believe that a perfect angel

whose planned eternal home was,

according to scripture, “…Eden, the

garden of God…”(Ezekiel 28:13),

disobeyed God’s command and

instead used his knowledge of sin to

disrupt man’s destiny. Speaking of this

angel, Ezekiel 28:15 says “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.”

It was the pull of power that caused

Satan to release sin into the world. He

wanted what he could not have. Isn’t

that how sin gets all of us. It dangles

its power in front of us like diamonds

on a bracelet; all shiny and new. “Try

me”, sin says. “You’ll like me!” And we

can’t help but desire what it has to

offer…Fun, and fortune. It’s the

ultimate attraction. Sin says, “Come

and play!”

Play…indeed. Come play in the

wilderness and stay lost. Come play

with fire and get burned. Come play

with your desires and end up

defeated. That’s what sin offers.

SIN’S DESIRE *

Then, let’s look at sin’s defiance.

Sinful acts are nothing more than the

defiance of God’s commandments. In

fact, sin is regarded as an attitude of

defiance or hatred of God. And Satan is

defiant like no other. He wants what

God has. He wants to rule in your life.

He desires to possess you…that he

may “sift you like wheat” (Luke 22:31).

Satan will do everything he can to…

Disrupt your peace of mind.

Corrupt your practice of honesty.

Hinder your development of patience.

Cast doubt on the cleanliness of your character. Interfere with your life of holiness.

Limit your freedom of worship.

And ruin your hope of heaven and eternal life.

Isaiah was the prophet who best

recorded Satan’s defiant manifesto.

In Isaiah 14: 13 - 14 he wrote of Satan’s defiance, “…thou hast said in thine heart, ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds: I will be like the Most High!”

But it does not matter how defiant one becomes. You can flaunt your sin in the face of God. You can ignore His commandments.

You can boast of your sins on social media. You can utter all manner of excuses for

your disobedience to God. But in the

end…you lose, and God wins.

Satan can cause men to defy God. And

those who are attracted to his

mayhem may seem to get away with it

for now. But God declares in Obadiah 1:4 “Though you build high like the eagle, Though you set your nest among the stars, From there I will bring you down…”.

Satan’s lair of sin is desirable and

defiant, but it leads to death. Now let’s

look at what sin is up against.

Finally, let’s look at Sin’s Destroyer.

Paul writes to the Colossians that our

conviction has been overturned, our

sins have been blotted out, and we are

forgiven. We have been quickened

with Christ. It’s our guilt’s one-word

sentence from the Judge: We have

been recovered, repaired and

restored. Christ was charged with our

sin, that the charges against us might

be dropped. In Christ, Satan has met

his match. No weapon formed against

you shall prosper.

It was the Cross that gave us the

victory over principalities and powers

of darkness. Satan may have had

dominion over man, but the secret of

his strength lie in sin. And when Christ

nailed sin to His cross, He extinguished

the guilt that lay between us and Him.

Christ cast the consequences of sin

off . Paul said Ephesians 2:4 - 5 “God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ…By grace are ye saved!”

Satan is still lurking around, seeking

whom he may devour. But we no

longer have to be victims of His

defiance toward God. We have another

path we can take. We can repent and

start a new journey.

We can let the Bread of Life feed us.

We can let the Morning Star direct us.

We can let the Great Physician heal us.

The only thing that stands between

man and certain death is confession. If

you confess your sins, the same Spirit

that raised up Jesus from the dead will

dwell in you and quicken or restore

your mortal body (Romans 8:11). Why?

Because Jesus nailed it to the cross!

He became the Sacrifice for everyone’s sin. Jesus nailed it to the cross!

He became the Deliverer for

everyone’s bondage.

Jesus nailed it!

He became the Hope for everyone’s despair.

Jesus nailed it!

He became the Strength for everyone’s weakness.

Jesus nailed it!

He became the Victory for everyone’s battle.

How can this be? How can ONE DEATH

spare all of mankind from certain

death? The answer lies in the power of

the Judge to apply the Law. Romans 8:3 - 4, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

Let’s break that down.

God is the Judge.

He has all power over sin.

He has the power to dismiss all charges. He has the power to lay all sin on His Son. And He did!

God saw our thirst and He quenched it. God saw our hunger, and He satisfied it. God saw our shame and He removed it. God saw our debt, and Jesus paid it!

All charges are dismissed when we

accept Jesus as our Savior.

All penalties are set aside when we

accept Jesus as our Redeemer.

Why? Because He nailed it to the cross!

There’s an old song that some of you

may have never heard but the words go like this.

I was guilty of all charges, doomed and disgraced.

But Jesus with his special love saved me by his grace.

He pleaded my case!

I’m so glad that Jesus dropped the charges!

Now I’m saved through grace and faith!

JESUS NAILED IT TO THE CROSS!!!

Sin’s desire

Sin’s defiance

Sin’s DESTROYER