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Book: Matthew
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Matthew 27:45-50 The Victory of the Cross
Intro. It indeed is finished, the horrible, unthinkable crime against
righteousness and justice, against God Himself has been
committed. We read that at noon there was darkness over all the
land, this surely was mankind's darkest hour. The ultimate
demonstration of his total depravity is clearly manifested in
the limp body of the innocent Son of God that is hanging on
that cross. This is Satan's hour, he has bruised the heel of
the Seed of the woman. The hope of a better world has died
with Him, the hope of a world that is free from suffering and
pain, free from crime and wars. The announcement be the angels
at His birth of peace on earth, goodwill toward men seems as
taunting mockery from heaven. It would seem that there is no
hope for man in his struggle against the powers of darkness.
I. Our real battles are in the realm of the spirit. "We wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, the
rulers of darkness in this present world."
A. The three great enemies of the Christian life are the world,
the flesh and the devil, which work in concert against you
as you seek to live a righteous life.
1. When we speak of the world, we do not speak of the
world as God created it in all of it's pristine
beauty, but the world system that is in rebellion
against God and pollutes and s the gifts of
God.
a. All that is of the world, the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eye, the pride of
life is not of the Father but of the world.
b. This is what the believer is told not to
love. "Love not the world, neither the things
that are in the world, for he that hath the
love of the world in his heart, has not the
love of the Father."
c. "Know ye not that friendship with the world,
is enmity with God and he that would be a
friend of the world is and enemy with God."
2. When we speak of the flesh, we speak of our fallen
nature, that takes the beautiful gifts of God and
s them to other uses.
a. The glorious gift of reproduction that God
designed for the perpetuation of the human
race. Look how it is being ed by man
today who thinks only of the sensual delight.
b. Man can become so addicted to sex, that the
desire for sex becomes even stronger than the
self preservation drive. He thus continues in
promiscuous sex even though there is the
present danger of being infected with the
H.I.V. virus, or any of the other more than
20 different sexually transmitted diseases
that are presently being passed around.
c. We are told in the scriptures that there is
a war that is going on between our flesh and
our spirit, the flesh that desires the baser
things and the spirit that seeks the higher
purer life.
3. When we speak of the devil, we speak of that once
beautiful creation of God, called in the scripture
the anointed cherub, who was full of wisdom and
perfect and beauty, but who led a rebellion against
God, and was cast as profane out of heaven.
a. He still leads the rebellion against God and
seeks to conscript men to join with him in
that rebellion against the righteous laws
that God has proscribed for man.
b. Many of his conscripts now rule in the
highest places in government, and are
determined to spread the rebellion
against God by advocating that the scouts
admit lesbian and leadership, they
have been appointed by the president, many
believe under the pressure of his wife to
their high positions of power and influence.
c. The Supreme Court this week has ruled that
one of the State houses of Legislature must
remove the ten commandments from the wall.
d. The devil is in rebellion against the law of
God and has many eager helpers.
B. It is not easy to live a righteous life against all of the
pressures of the world, the flesh and the devil.
1. Even though you may have a strong desire to do so, it
is becoming increasingly more difficult all of the
time.
2. Is there any hope? Must I always be stumbling, and
falling?
3. Strange as it may seem, our hope for a righteous life
of victory over the world, the flesh and the devil
lies in the limp body that is hanging on that cross.
C. His death was purchasing my redemption from the powers of
darkness. "We are redeemed not with corruptible things such as
silver or gold, from our empty living, but with the precious
blood of Jesus Christ, who was slain as a lamb without spot or
blemish."
1. Jesus made a strange statement to His disciples just
before He was arrested and crucified. He said, "In
that day you will know that I am in the Father, and
you are in Me, and I am in you."
2. Christ dwells in me, and I dwell in Him, thus when
He was crucified, I was crucified with Him.
a. Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ,
nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ
liveth in me, and the life that I now live,
I live by the faith of the Son of God who
loved me and gave Himself for me."
b. He said, "God forbid that I should glory save
in the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ, by
whom the world is crucified to me, and I to
the world." In Christ, I have been crucified
to the world, thus I have victory over the
world.
3. Through His death, I also have victory over the flesh.
a. He said, "Reckon yourselves to the dead to
sin, but alive unto God through faith."
b. He then asks, "How can we who are dead to sin
live any longer therein?"
c. You see, you can place all kinds of the most
sensual, alluring, exciting things before a
corpse, and it will not even stir, its dead.
ROM 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with [him],
that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we
should not serve sin.
d. Thus through being crucified with Him, the
flesh, the body of sin is put out of
business. Kata gero thrown down, defeated.
e. When Paul was struggling with his flesh and
found out the power it had over his life.
"When I would do good, evil is present with
me, O wretched man that I am, who shall
deliver me from this body of death?" He
answered his own question with the statement,
"I thank God through Jesus Christ."
4. Through His death, Satan was also defeated, through
His death the head or the power or authority of the
serpent was bruised.
a. John tells us that,
1JO 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil
sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God
was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
b. How did He destroy the works of the devil?
COL 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of
your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having
forgiven you all trespasses;
COL 2:14 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;
COL 2:15 [And] having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a
shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
COL 2:20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the
world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to
ordinances,
c. We need to recognize that Satan is a defeated
foe, "This is my Father's world, The battle
is not done, Jesus who died, shall be
satisfied, And heaven and earth be one."
d. Jesus had said when the Holy Spirit comes,
He shall testify of sin, righteousness, and
judgment, He then amplified, and said, of
judgment because the prince
of this world is judged.
e. On the cross the powers of Satan were judged
and defeated, in Jesus you can now enter into
the victory of Jesus over the power of
darkness.
f. We are told that if we will just resist the
devil, he will flee from us.
g. The cross spells our victory over the world,
the flesh and the devil.
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