Good evening. If you would, open
with me to Colossians chapter two. I am sure that you've all done
this before. You go past a place every day
and you really, you know it. You've seen it. You know what's
there. And then one day you go past it and something stands
out that you've not seen before. It's always been there. Nothing's
changed about the place. You just notice something that
you've not ever really paid attention to before. That's the best way
I can describe what led me to our passage of scripture for
our text. Look with me at Colossians 2 verse 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. 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. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in it." It wasn't too long ago, and we had a message brought
to us from this scripture. And as it was being read, the
thought occurred to me, look at what God has done for us. As we've ended the days of building
this building, the past couple of months, particularly here
of late, it's not unusual to hear that thought expressed in
this congregation. Just look what God has provided
for us. Look what he's done for this
group. In times of joy among God's people
and even to an extent among the religious, that's an easy thought
to express when things are up, when everything's going well.
Look what God has done for us. But what about during those times
when news comes that breaks our hearts, that just rends us? In those times when the full
weight of the knowledge that we walk through the valley of
the shadow of death falls upon us, those times when at long last,
after the news has been delivered and family and friends have gathered
around you and you're finally able to get along, to get in
your closet, what comforts our heart at that time? Do you find
it as I have that in those times of sorrow, fear, and uncertainty,
that the calmness, the peace that comes over you when you
start considering what God has done for this sinner, what God
has done for his people. Listen to our text again. It's
just one sentence and you. being dead in your sins, and
the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with
him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 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,
and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. Who is it that has
quickened, forgiven, blotted out, and triumphed? Look back
at verse 10. And ye are complete in him, in
our Lord Jesus Christ, which is the head of, excuse me, which
is the head of all principality and power, in whom also ye are
circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of
Christ, buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with
him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised
him from the dead." God has done all of this. He has quickened,
He has forgiven, He has blotted out, and He has triumphed. And He did so through our Lord
Jesus Christ, who is God manifested in the flesh. Who did God do this great work
for? Verse 13, and you. This morning's message, I was
sitting there thinking, well, Gabe's brought the same message
I'm going to bring, and it's so. But Peter said, give diligence
to make your calling and election sure. I forget so easily. I put it off. My flesh wants
nothing to do with it. I need to be reminded every time
I can be. Am I a you? Do I belong to that
you? To prevent any confusion, God
inspired Paul to define you further, right here in our text. being dead in your sins and the
uncircumcision of your flesh." Here is our defining moment.
Am I included in that you? While I was writing this message,
it seriously gave me pause. Am I a you? Am I? Am I? dead in my sins? Is my flesh uncircumcised? Am I cut off from God's people? As I considered my estate, I
thought back to the time before the Lord revealed Christ to me.
I was taught at a young age that all men are sinners, we've all
sinned in Adam, We are all guilty before God, but all that time
that I was being taught, I justified myself. I acknowledged, I owned the fact
that I bore the sins of Adam. So it's his fault for what I
am today. I'm only doing the best I can.
He did it. Those little sins I committed,
they're really his fault, right? The good news, this good news
of the gospel is not to that person that's justifying themselves,
whatever excuse we make up. The good news of this gospel
It's that person who is dead in your sins, dead in my sins,
my personal sins, those things I've done. That sin that I commit
is a direct result of what I am. It's just an expression of what's
in this heart. dead, spiritually separated from
God, without the ability to come,
without the ability to decide, without the ability to live,
dead. My sins have separated me from
my God, not another's, not Adam's, my sins. The Lord Jesus Christ, God the
Son, came into the world to save men and women just like me—dead
in my sins. In short, the Lord Jesus Christ
came into the world to save sinners. What is it that our Lord did?
What's included when we say the Lord Jesus Christ saved this
sinner? I'm going to give us the answer
and then we'll look more closely at each statement. What's included
when Christ saves a sinner? That sinner is quickened together
with Him. Forgiven of all trespasses, and
the handwriting of ordinances is blotted out. What has Christ
done for that sinner he has saved? Verse 13, and you being dead
in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened. He's made alive. In this shell
of flesh, mine and yours, dwells an eternal soul. I thought back on the body of
Lazarus that was laying for four days in that tomb. Basically, he was in a cemetery.
That body was laid in a cemetery. And cemeteries are really nicely
kept places. Most cemeteries you go to, the
grass is green, it's lush, it's pretty. tree growing here and
there, park bench maybe to sit on. They're almost park-like
settings. But because of what's there, we don't like to spend a lot
of time there. As pretty as you make the outside of it, it's
not a place we want to go and dwell on. That outside looked good. The body within it, though, I
can clean up this outside, make it look as good as any other
man can look upon it and say, oh, they look all right. But
within is death and decay. That's the way I can picture
my natural soul. This body is the cemetery, it
looks good, but within is rot and decay. No one wants to be near it. No
one wants to see what's inside exposed. If it's exposed, the vileness
and the disease will affect everything and everyone that's exposed to
it. There was a day, though, when
outside of that tomb that housed that rotting and decayed body,
our Lord Jesus Christ came. And he didn't stand outside knocking
on the door, begging Lazarus to open up and let him in, pleading
with him to accept him into his heart. He came to that tomb and
he gave the command, Lazarus, come forth. And immediately life
came into that body. And it was made known that there
was life. He that was dead came forth. We who by nature are dead in
our sins When Christ, our salvation, comes and gives command that
we live like that dead body of Lazarus, our dead soul is quickened
and is made known. We believe Him. We look to Him. We trust Him. Our dead soul is quickened. It's not enough to go from death
unto life. But listen, and you, being dead
in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him. Generally speaking, we try to
take a vacation once or twice a year. And after vacation, people want
to know what we did, where we went. and we'll tell the story. And sometimes there comes a part
of the story that causes somebody to stop you and say, where were
the kids? While you were doing this, where
were the kids? Generally speaking, we can answer,
oh, they were with us. They were with us. They were
part of us. They participated. They were
under our guidance. They were under our protection.
They were included, and they weren't left behind. We, sinners that God has chosen
to visit in mercy, are quickened together with our Lord Jesus
Christ. And so being, how was He quickened? We're quickened the same way
He was. How was He quickened? Verse 12. buried with him, with
Christ, in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through
the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from
the dead." Our Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. He
was quickened by God. And we are raised by God with
Him. How effective was our Lord's
return from the dead? Lazarus, being raised from the
tomb, was one day laid down again in that tomb. Is Christ in threat
of returning to his tomb? In Hebrews 7.25, we read, he
ever liveth. And in Revelations 1.18, our
Lord says, I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am
alive forevermore. One day this shell of flesh will
be laid down. In the day that my soul leaves
this body, the shell will be laid down. of my soul, having
been quickened together with Christ Jesus, shall never die
again." The statement, with him, isn't
that of great comfort? Us parents, when our children
come to us and say, may I go wherever? May I go? One of the first things that
we ask, who are you going with? Makes a big difference who you're
going to go with as to whether I'm going to say yes or no. Children, when you're faced with
going into a scary place, Doesn't it make you feel a lot
better when you go to your mom and dad and say, will you come
with me? Will you be there with me? Will
you protect me? Child of God, our heavenly father
has quickened us together with our Lord Jesus Christ. We are
with him. The sinner God has saved is quickened
together with Christ, and all trespasses have been forgiven.
Who have we trespassed against? We all know it. We all know David's
words very well. Against thee, thee only, have
I sinned. In Adam we rebelled against God,
and in this flesh We chase after those things that are opposed
to God. False religion, our natural religion,
we don't have to sit under anybody. We make it up all by ourselves. Our natural religion tells us
that God owes us. On December 7th, 1941, Japan
attacked Pearl Harbor. If we are to liken the actions
of Japan to that of man in the fall and take the approach that
false religion declares will bring us into God's favor, we
would have a scenario that after the bombing, Japan would have
said something like this to the United States. We have bombed
you. We have killed your people. We
have attacked your sovereignty. And I tell you what, we will
accept you into our hearts and we will forgive you and we will
love you if you give us health, wealth, and security. Even in our natural state, no
man would ever say that's the way it works. The offender dictating
to the offended what he's going to accept as pardon. You and I have sinned against
God, but for the saved sinner, we, being quickened together
with him, have been forgiven of all trespasses. In Christ, God has quickened
us together with Him, forgiven us of all trespasses, and, verse
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. The handwriting of ordinances
has been blotted out Reading the word handwriting
brought certain scriptures to my mind. Moses on the mount receiving
the law that was written by the finger of God. Our Lord in the
temple where he stooped down and wrote in the dust. And in
Daniel five, the King Belshazzar threw a great party. There was
eating, drinking, general merriment. And in revealing the only thoughts
that he had of God, Belshazzar ordered the golden vessels of
the temple, which had been captured, to be brought out so that he
and his guests could use them to party with. Daniel 5.5 says, In the same
hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against
the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace. And the king saw the part of
the hand that wrote. Eventually, Daniel was called
to interpret the writing on the wall. And part of what was written
said, thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting. That's the handwriting on the
wall against me. That's the handwriting that was
contrary to us. That's the handwriting that I
can't blot out. I can't whitewash it. can't get
rid of it. That's the handwriting that only
the Lord Jesus Christ can blot out. God is holy and just. While men may sin or offend against
another man, and that offended man may forgive as a matter of
course, God is not man. The question must be addressed,
how can God be just and justify sinful man? Verse 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. How can God be just and justify
this sinner? He, God the Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, came in the likeness of sinful flesh. He took the
law, and He kept it perfectly. He obtained, as a man, the rightness
required to stand before God. Then His hour came, and He went
to His cross. Earlier we looked at the term
your sins. Mine, not another's. My sin,
my guilt, the handwriting of the ordinances was against me,
not against him. That cross is my cross. I deserve that cross, not him. Examine him. Examine the Lord
Jesus Christ. Examine Jesus of Nazareth. Measure
him against the law. Measure him against all of scripture. He lacks, he wants for nothing. But as the Lamb, without spot
and without blemish, endured the death which went through
Egypt on that first Passover, so that none in the houses of
Israel perished, Our Lord and our Savior bore our burdens to
His cross, that cross that was prepared for the man Barabbas,
that cross that I deserve. He bore our burden to His cross. He took it. He took our burdens,
He took our death, and He bore them, and He nailed them to His
cross. We are quickened together with
Him. We walked with Him as He went
about doing good. We suffered with Him as He endured
the scourging and beatings before He was crucified. We were crucified
with him. We were buried with him. We are
quickened together with him. He loves us, and He gave Himself
for us. And because He bore our sins,
because He made them His own, because He went to His cross
to suffer, shed His blood, and die, He has blotted out with
His own precious blood the handwriting of ordinances that was against
us. Look finally at verse 15. And
having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. Or from the center
margin, triumphing over them in himself. There at Calvary's
cross, man stood and declared, we will not have this man reign
over us. We took down his body and we
sealed it in a tomb saying, that's it, we're finished with him.
We'll not see any more of God's son. On the third day, because
he finished the work, because the law and justice of God was
satisfied, God raised him up, having loosed the pains of death,
because it was not possible that he should be holding of it. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and He shall not
fail. Everyone God has given to Him
shall be saved. May our Lord make these words
a blessing and an encouragement to us. May we never grow tired
or cease to wonder at what God has done for us in our Lord Jesus
Christ. We'll close by reading our text
one last time. And you, being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him having forgiven you all trespasses, 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. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in himself."