One Fine Day

No person in their right mind would be willing to die for something that wasn’t true. And some did. Also, there are now 6.5 billion people on earth and two billion of those people claim to believe in Christ. Two billion believe in the resurrection of Christ. The evidence is strong. WHY NOT BELIEVE?

ILL.- A former skeptic by the name of Josh McDowell puts it, “After more than 700 hours of studying this subject, and thoroughly investigating its foundation, I have come to the conclusion that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is either one of the ‘most wicked, vicious, heartless hoaxes ever imposed on the minds of men, OR it is the most fantastic fact of history.’” And McDowell chose to believe.

ILL.- On Thursday, March 30, 2006, miracle miner Randall McCloy of the Jan. 2nd Sago mine disaster of W. VA., went home. He said, “I’d just like to thank everybody for their thoughts and prayers.” He hesitated and then said, “I believe that’s it.”

Praise the Lord for this miracle! But there’s a greater miracle and a greater miracle man! Jesus rose!

II. SATAN DIED

Col. 2:15 “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

Jesus triumphed over Satan on the cross. How could this be? Because He did exactly what the Father had planned in order to overcome sin, Satan, death, and hell! IT WAS GOD’S PLAN! God is still over all, including Satan!

I John 3:8 “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”

Destroy the devil’s work. And that’s what Jesus did on the cross and by His resurrection. The devil was against us and Jesus was for us. And He came to take care of the bully who was out to hurt us. No likes a bully and least of all, Jesus.

Satan didn’t literally die but we wish he had. But for all practical purposes he did die. Through Christ’s death and resurrection Satan has been disarmed. He has no power except what God will allow.

Heb. 2:14 “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil.” Satan was destroyed through Christ’s death.

ILL.- Writing in Moody Monthly, Carl Armerding recounted his experience of watching a wildcat in a zoo. "As I stood there," he said, "an attendant entered the cage through a door on the opposite side. He had nothing in his hands but a broom. Carefully closing the door, he proceeded to sweep the floor of the cage." He observed that the worker had no weapon to ward off an attack by the beast. In fact, when he got to the corner of the cage where the wildcat was lying, he poked the animal with the broom. The wildcat hissed at him and then lay down in another corner of the enclosure. Armerding remarked to the attendant, "You certainly are a brave man." "No, I ain’t brave," he replied as he continued to sweep. "Well, then that cat must be tame." "No," came the reply, "he ain’t tame." "If you aren’t brave and the wildcat isn’t tame, then I can’t understand why he doesn’t attack you." Armerding said the man chuckled, then replied with an air of confidence, "Mister, he’s old--and he ain’t got no teeth."