What do "Hector Mercedes" and "sin" have in common?
Well, Hector Mercedes is the guy that was beaten by Mike Tyson, in Tyson's professional debut fight in 1985. The win was by TKO in the first round after only one minute and forty-seven seconds; it's what is known as a "thrashing"! Sin was completely and utterly thrashed by Jesus at the Cross of Calvary, where He removed both the sting of death and the power of sin forever!
You don't see a whole lot being said about Hector Mercedes do you? In fact if you Google his name, the first results you get are pictures of Mike Tyson and videos of Tyson tucking Hector in for beddy-bye. The reason for this is simple: Mike Tyson won, Hector Mercedes Lost. You don't spend a lot of time talking about the guy that lost the fight.
So why do I see so many preachers talking and writing about sin as much as they do? They talk about how sin can give satan permission to affect your life, and how sin can make you loose faith in Jesus. The way that they talk, you would swear that sin won the fight 2000 years ago?!? Hey unless you're mentioning sin to say how much of a beating it got, you may have your "fight stats" wrong...
This is what happened to Hector Mercedes:
Well, Hector Mercedes is the guy that was beaten by Mike Tyson, in Tyson's professional debut fight in 1985. The win was by TKO in the first round after only one minute and forty-seven seconds; it's what is known as a "thrashing"! Sin was completely and utterly thrashed by Jesus at the Cross of Calvary, where He removed both the sting of death and the power of sin forever!
You don't see a whole lot being said about Hector Mercedes do you? In fact if you Google his name, the first results you get are pictures of Mike Tyson and videos of Tyson tucking Hector in for beddy-bye. The reason for this is simple: Mike Tyson won, Hector Mercedes Lost. You don't spend a lot of time talking about the guy that lost the fight.
So why do I see so many preachers talking and writing about sin as much as they do? They talk about how sin can give satan permission to affect your life, and how sin can make you loose faith in Jesus. The way that they talk, you would swear that sin won the fight 2000 years ago?!? Hey unless you're mentioning sin to say how much of a beating it got, you may have your "fight stats" wrong...
This is what happened to Hector Mercedes:
... And this is what happened to Sin at the Cross:
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
~ 1 Corinthians 15:55-57
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
~ Colossians 2:13-14
Sin lost its power, which was the law because Jesus took it and nailed it to the cross (now that's a picture that kind of makes Tyson's blows look tame). And because sin was completely disarmed, death lost its victory over us.
Sin is nothing more than the guy who "also showed up" to the fight... and got floored.
Sin is nothing more than the guy who "also showed up" to the fight... and got floored.