Passion Week - Everything Changed

Introduction

There are moments in life where nothing ever stays the same after that. Some of these moments are great. When you first begin to walk, nothing is the same for you or your parents. When you first go to school, marriage kids, driving. Some of these examples are bad as well. When a loved one dies. When your spouse is unfaithful. When your parents divorce, when a friend lets you down or abndons you. There is a part of you that is never the same. This is partly in how God makes us. He makes us to adapt.

But what about this world as a whole. There are moments that things were never the same. When 9/11 happened things changed in this world. Wars, USA.

But of all the changes, I can boil down to 4! 4 changes that drastically effected you and me more than anything else could ever change us. And no I am not talking about puberty.........

Everything Changed when Sin entered the heart of mankind

Let me set the scene. God had created everything perfectly! An absolute eutopia. They were in need of nothing. The only thing they needed to do was to trust fully in the creator. In God himself. Everything was going well and then satan and evil enter the picture.

Genesis 3:1–19 NIV

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

Sooooo many things changed in that moment. In that moment trees went from healthy to dying. Sickness, pain, heartache, they all entered. From blessung to curse in a matter of moments.

When sin enters your life. Everything Changes, and not for good. for all have sinned says the wages of those sins is death. This is bad news.

I need you to understand how drastic of a change this was

The second biggest change that happened to you and to me was this.

Everything changed when the Savior entered this world.

Here is a new scene. God tells his prophet Malachai to tell the People about a prophet who will come and prepare the way for Jesus. The people had returned from Captivity of the Babylonians and the temple had been restored. The Jews were still living in disobedience just as they are now, but after that message to Malachai we then have 400 YEARS!!!! 400 YEARS!!! And the people hear nothing from God. That is the time between the Old and the New testament.

Tell Christmas story

Matthew 1:18–25 NIV

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Then, in that moment, everything changed again. God had sent His son to save mankind to reverse the curse that man had inflicted on themself. He was making all things new and the arrival of Jesus changed everything.

We went from silence to praise. From kingless to a king. From hopeless to hope.

Then the third biggest change in mine and your life is this.

Everything Changed when Jesus died for the sins of the world and defeated death.

Here we are setting another scene. The only answer for sin that was given at this point was through sacrifice. To forgive sins there must be shedding of blood. There was a sacrificial system. There was distrust in government. There was very little hope. The Law was all that man knew and keeping it was very hard. People were depending on how GOOD they were and the Temple themselves were making it harder and harder on the people.

Life of Jesus.....

Matthew 27:45–54 NIV

From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.” And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

This changed everything. The sins that entered the world were put on that cross with Jesus......LISTEN We went from having nothing to having everything. from cursed to redeemed. From ashamed to child of God. FROM DEATH TO LIFE

The fourth and greatest change is this

Everything Changes when Christ changes the heart of man.

Let me set another scene. Born into sin. no hope......life of sinner.....

Then their is something a realization that there is more. A realization that you cant find an answer for your own sin. That you are in need. The spirit of God draws you to him .

Ephesians 2:1–10 NIV

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

You change forever. You change forever. You change forever.

Conclussion.

This change happens either way