WHEN JESUS EMBARRASSED HELL
Col. 2:15
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: THE BATHTUB TEST.........
1. During a visit to the mental asylum, I asked the Director how do You determine whether or not a patient should be institutional-ized.
2. 'Well,' said the Director, 'we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub.'
3. 'Oh, I understand,' I said. 'A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup.'
4. 'No.' said the Director, 'A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the window?'
B. TEXT
“And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” Col. 2:15, NIV.
C. THESIS
1. As far back as the patriarch Job, the devil accused God of waging a lopsided fight; he claimed that God had an unfair advantage, and that if God leveled the playing field to give the devil an equal chance, the devil would beat God in the contest for human hearts and minds. This argument is echoed in Job 1:9-12 and 2:3-6.
2. God acceded to the devil's challenge and proved, through the life of Job, that God is not just superior because of his power or omnipresence, but because He is right. God is not only able to defeat his enemies using his strength, but He can even defeat them with His weakness!
3. This was not only a statement of theory, but was God's operating policy; He chose to humble the enemy by triumphing using the weakest and most unlikely people and circumstances.
4. Title: “When Jesus Embarrassed Hell.”
I. PAUL’S GREAT DISCOVERY
A. GOD CHOSE WEAK THINGS TO DEFEAT STRONG
1. Paul’s great revelation was “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him,” 1 Cor. 1:27-29.
2. During the first century, when other ministers were calling themselves "super-apostles," depending on their ability to speak, their noble appearance, their charismatic personalities, and boasting of their supposed spiritual experiences (that made them superior to others), Paul promoted a quite different truth: that the weaker we are and the more dependent upon God, the stronger we are in the Holy Spirit.
3. “[God] said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Cor. 12:9-10.
B. OUR WEAKNESS REDOUNDS TO GOD’S GLORY
1. It turns out that God's not looking for your abilities, your money, your looks, your brilliance, or any of the other qualities that we associate with success. If you have all those, then God probably won’t get the credit for what He does through you.
2. That’s why God told Gideon, “You have too many men (32,000->300)...that Israel may not boast...that her own strength has saved her” Judg. 7:2.
3. So what’s God looking for? He’s looking for the weak, the unlikely, even the backward kind of people; people who make lots of mistakes and blunders, because His light shining out of a rustic vessel is more clear than out of a golden one! So you are God’s favorite kind of vessel to work through!
II. CHRIST’S VICTORY THROUGH WEAKNESS
A. PAUL’S RECORD ABOUT CHRIST
1. This idea of God defeating the devil through weakness wasn't a new idea, but was God's plan from the very beginning of time. As the book of Revelation (13:8) says, "... the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." God using weakness was no after-thought; it would be God’s manner of redemption of the human race.
2. Christ, at His weakest, was stronger than the devil's strength. 2 Cor.13:4, “For to be sure, He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God's power we will live with him to serve you.”; 1 Cor. 15:43, “…it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.”
B. JESUS ANSWERS THE CHALLENGE
1. Imagine two fighters who seem equal. One talks trash to the other about how he is going to whip him. The other says, "I could tie both of my hands behind my back and still beat you." We would be amazed if he would actually do it!
2. But that's what Jesus did! Jesus, as God, had all power. Somewhere in eternity, the devil said, "If you would make yourself an equal with me – an archangel -- I would whip you!" Jesus replied, "I'll do more than that; I'll not use my divine powers and become flesh and blood and only have the powers that a redeemed human has, and I'll still beat you!"
3. And Jesus defeated the devil, not by exerting supernatural power, but by dying in weakness on the cross, accepting the sins of the world, yet being pure in Himself. Oh! The depths of the wisdom of God!
4. Philippians 2:5-8 NASB says, “Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but EMPTIED HIMSELF, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
C. THE MOST DECISIVE BATTLE
1. The most decisive battle ever waged was not at Marathon, Waterloo, Midway, or Iwo Jima. The most decisive battle was waged at Gethsemane and Calvary! It was there that Christ disarmed the powers of Hell.
2. Through His sacrificial death on the cross, Christ entered the citadel of the enemy -- Hell itself -- and wrested the keys from Satan, dealing him a mortal blow. On the third day, Christ exercised His new power over death by rising from the dead in a glorious body. He was exalted to the right hand of God and established as Co-Regent of the universe.
3. CHRIST’S VICTORY OVER THE DEVIL WAS SO COMPLETE THAT:
a. That it was a rout; a shameful defeat.
b. Why? Jesus, using his weakness, defeated Satan, who was using his strength.
c. And as a result even the weakest members of the Body also have their part in the victory!
III. THE TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION OF CHRIST!
“And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” Col. 2:15, NIV.
A. WHEN JESUS EMBARRASSED HELL
1. What looked like a defeat for the Son of God in the physical, became the utter defeat of the Prince of Darkness in the spiritual realm! You might say that in killing Jesus, the devil shot himself in the head. All the devil’s power was founded upon the sin of mankind; when Jesus died as our substitute, He removed the power of sin! Killing Jesus was Satan’s greatest blunder!
2. As Paul said in 1 Cor. 2:8, “Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
3. The Message Bible tells the outcome of Jesus using His weakness to defeat Satan, “He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.” Col. 2:15.
B. PICTURE OF THE “ROMAN TRIUMPH”
1. Paul pictures here a Roman Triumph. A “Roman Triumph” was a large parade by a conquering Roman general of plunder and prisoners through the streets of Rome at his return.
2. Plutarch gives a description of such a Triumph. “The main thoroughfares of Rome were cleared and scaffolds built along the roadways for the crowds to sit and stand on. The whole city was prepared with flags and banners to greet the victorious army.
3. “When the conquering General was approaching the city, he would first send in the statues, pictures, and colossal images taken from the enemy, drawn upon 250 wagons as well is a great deal of fine armor of the defeated foes.
4. “Next, hundreds of men carried the silver and gold looted from the cities, as well as tribute. Then came the precious treasures of the defeated King as well as his own gilded chariot, royal armor, and crown.
5. Next the defeated King’s children, friends, and family disfigured with grief, were led in chains. Lastly, came the conquering General, seated on a chariot magnificently adorned, dressed in a robe of purple interwoven with gold holding a Laurel branch in his hand and with a diadem upon his head.
6. To his chariot was chained the vanquished King, who stumbled behind in disgrace. The General’s chariot was followed by his victorious army, divided into companies, carrying laurel branches of victory and singing and shouting as they came. To their shouts were added the cheers and noise of all Rome as the victors marched by.
7.That’s a picture of what Jesus did. Satan found himself chained to Christ’s chariot being paraded through the streets of glory in defeat. The devil is still alive, but he’s suffered a mortal wound and his days are numbered. Aren’t you glad you’re on the winning side? We’re marching to Zion in victory!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. One particular time missionary John G. Patton incurred the wrath of three witch doctors who declared they would see him dead before next Sunday by the power of their sorcery.
2. The story goes that to carry out their task they had to get hold of something that Patton had partially eaten. Patton publicly obliged the witch doctors by taking a bite out of three pieces of fruit and giving one to each of them.
3. To the amazement of the natives, the next Sunday Patton strolled into the village heathy and spry as ever. Their incantations had failed. The only explanation the witch doctors had was that he was a “holy man” like they were, but that his God was stronger than theirs.
4. It is said that from then on Patton was able to win more natives to Christ than ever before! Jesus has vanquished all our foes! Praise God!
B. ALTAR CALL
1. Look at the ministries of John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus: Who came and accepted them? It wasn’t the who’s who, the influential, or the rich. It was the tax collectors, blue collar workers, and sinners. Who’s it going to be today? The same! The people who’ve hit bottom, who’ve found they can’t do it themselves.
2. If you feel unworthy, weak, incapable, etc., then you're an excellent candidate for God to work through! Offer yourself today to Jesus & see what he’ll do with you!
3. PRAYER.
