Easter 2009
Right Side of the Cross
Colossians 2:6-15 NLT
This is absolutely one of the most explosive celebrations in the history of the world!
The whole world just witnessed that Jesus Christ is truly who He said He was!
What about it today? Do people still wonder if He is truly the resurrected Savior of the world?
The answer to this question makes all the difference in a person’s relationship with Jesus!
Colossians 2:6-15 lays out a real clear explanation of the real Easter message.
I. Accepting Christ Jesus as your Lord… Verse 6
Nicodemus came to Jesus at night to get some answers. This man is a religious scholar, Pharisee.
John 3:3 NLT Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
So it is safe to say that if a person is going to enter into a relationship with Jesus they must come to this born again experience or they will still be on the outside looking in.
Romans 10:9-10 NLT And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.
So here we have it in plain English. It is elementary my dear Watson, as Sherlock Holmes would say.
Verse 7
Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
II. Your Thinking Must Be Renewed… Verse 8-12
Romans 12:1-2 AMP I APPEAL to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.
2 Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].
It is evident that there are some things that are going to be changed in us as we come to the knowledge of what Jesus has truly done for us!
2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
But the reality of this will never make sense until we recognize that I cannot keep looking at things through the same messed up mindset that I always have in the past.
Romans 8:5-8 NLT Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. 7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. 8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.
This is not my opinion, but it is the written Word of God! Please try to listen with an open heart this morning!
Which will bring us to this final point this morning…
III. All the Charges Are Gone… verse 13-15
Before understanding the truth about the Easter message we were all in the same state;
Ephesians 2:1-3 NLT Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
But Jesus came & paid the price once & for all for the sin problem!
As Bro. Hagin said; “Sometimes we talk like this, God saved so-&-so last night.” We know that from God’s viewpoint He did not just save that person the previous night.
He saved them when Jesus was raised from the dead!
The person just accepted the salvation that Jesus provided & it has now become a reality to them!”
Do you see the difference? The saving has already been done through the resurrection of Jesus Christ!
The accepting of what has been done is why the gospel must continue to be preached today!
1 John 3:8b NKJV For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
You know each one of us need to understand that Jesus didn’t have a devil problem!
Fallen man does! Jesus came to destroy that problem!
Colossians 2:14-15 AMP 14Having cancelled and blotted out and wiped away the handwriting of the note (bond) with its legal decrees and demands which was in force and stood against us (hostile to us). This [note with its regulations, decrees, and demands] He set aside and cleared [a]completely out of our way by nailing it to [His] cross. 15[God] disarmed the principalities and powers that were ranged against us and made a bold display and public example of them, in triumphing over them in Him and in it [the cross].
Jesus knows each one of our names & that is what He saw as He completed this mission!
Do you understand that all the SIN, GUILT, SHAME, & PAIN were taken & placed on Him on that cross for each one of us!
We can live with freedom & peace because there truly was a resurrected Savior for us today!
I want you to take a good look at the ugliness of this side of the cross as we are now going to take a look at the “Right Side of the Cross” after the resurrection!
Why is it crucial that I believe in the resurrected Jesus?
That is where all hope for every person lies at today!
1 Corinthians 15:14
