Stronger Then He Has Come
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20 But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.
21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace:
22 But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.
21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace:
22 But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.
I know this may seem an odd scripture text for Easter but give me an opportunity and I will walk you through to an understanding of Easter like you never experienced before.
Let’s do that be going all the way back to the beginning of the human experience.
Genisis 1:1 tells us that in the beginning, God created the Heavens and the earth...
Six specific times the Spirit of God moved on the earth in that first week of creation
Creating specific, things.
Day One: Divided light and dark
Day Two: Divided waters
Day Three: Dry land and plants
Day Four: Sun, moon and stars
Day Five: Fish and Birds
Day Six: Animals and man
Day Seven: God rested
When you look at all God’s creation, he would speak - light… it would appear (vs 3 vs 14 - day 4)
Speak dry land and plants and they would appear.
Speak sun, moon and stars and they would appear.
Speak fish, birds and animals into being and they would appear.
But when it came to man, he formed him and made him to look like Him!
He then would create a garden, name it Eden and place Adam there.
He would give him special authority to be over all God’s creation…
All creation new that there was something special about Man!
God would make him a wife and he would love them so much that he would walk with them every day!
No creation including the angels had this type of relationship with God!
But then something happened that changed everything!
A serpent enters the picture…
Tricks Eve and because of Adams love for Eve he would eat of the forbidden fruit as well...
The Bible says their eyes were opened and they realized they were naked and they tried to fix themselves...
First they would try to cover their nakedness...
When that was not enough they would hide themselves from God…
At this moment was the moment that everything changed.
Until this moment the most powerful thing in man’s world was God...
But sin comes in and changes EVERYTHING!
12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Sin has been a harsh master for mankind from that day until this…
We fight with addictions, lust, greed, jealousy, anger, pride, racism, apathy, hate… and the list goes on and on and on!
Watch what Paul had to say about this…
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Sin and the serpent (Satan) has been a strong man holding mankind hostage from then until now.
I have often been asked...
If there is a God, why is there so much pain? War? Sickness? Death?
That has nothing to do with God!
There was none of that until sin entered into the picture!
Looked at that phrase “strong man” and while it has several meanings, one of the ideas around the phrase is one who calls himself so.
One who calls himself strong.
When you study this I see nothing more then a school yard bully intimidating all the other kids!
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT A BULLY?
All it takes is one person to stand up to the bully and his kingdom comes tumbling down!
I wonder if there is anyone here that is tired of struggling with doing right?
Nicotine
Drugs
Lust
Anger
Rom 5:17
17 For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
English Standard Version Chapter 5
17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Simply: One man brought sin into the world - Another took it away!
For all of the OT, sin controlled everyone who ever lived!
But Jesus walked onto the playground of life and looked at the bully and said; enough is enough!
Like any other bully, made a fool of himself!
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Why?
Into this sinful world was born the Lamb of God...
Who lived his whole life and NEVER sinned!
At the end of his ministry
Having witnessed the miracles he did
The put him on trial, beat him, made him carry his cross up the Galgothas hill, nailed him to the cross and killed him.
They would burry him in a borrowed tomb...
Put a guard on the tomb
And on Easter morning, something began to happen.
Earth shaking, stone rolled away and Jesus arose triumphant over death, hell and the grave!
He went into hell and took the keys from Satan!
You took these from me in the garden of Eden...
But they are mine!
A stronger then he as arrived!
When Jesus came out of that grave, everything that sin has ever taken from mankind was with him!
Conclusion: All over the world today christians are celebrating Easter with bunnies, colored eggs, Easter egg hunts, chocolate, ham dinners (I’ve always been curious at how we come to celebrate a Hebrew rising from the grave with a ham dinner), family and friends...
Nothing wrong with any of that stuff.
Easter is about when the strongest man of all came onto the scene and took your sins away!
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Greatest Easter scripture in all the Word of God...
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.