Colossians chapter 2, and let's read verses 13-15 again. 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. Let me open this message by giving
you a few facts about the gospel. Three to be exact. Number one,
I wanna go through this slowly. I'm gonna slowly, let's see if
we can enter into this. Number one, the gospel is a declaration. The gospel is a notification. It is not an offer like most
people think it is. Most people think when they come
to sit down and hear the gospel, they're gonna hear something
that's offered to them. It's not an offer. It is not a solicitation. like most people think it is.
Meaning, it's not an advertisement as something for sale. Alright,
you got a business owner, a store owner, he puts a sign
on the door of his business that says, no soliciting. Meaning,
don't come in here and try to sell me something. And that's
what most people think this is. It's not a solicitation. It is not a call to arms like
most people think it is. Most people think, well, I'm
supposed to go and sit and listen and get fired up to run out and
do something. It's not a call to action. It is not a proposal of cooperation
like most people think it is. Well, here's the deal. If you
will do this, then God will do that, and the two of you together
can make this thing happen. It's not a proposal of cooperation. It's not a blueprint, and it's
most definitely not a plan. The Gospel is a declaration,
and we just read that. We just read a declaration. an announcement, a notification. Alright, here's the second fact.
The gospel is good news. It is good news. There is a lot
of bad news in the truth. There is a ton of it in there.
A ton of bad news. When we see the truth of our
condition, have no idea until we come in, open up God's Word
and see what it has to say about us. And we thought, I didn't
know that. The truth of our condition. It's
bad news. The truth of God's law. Well,
I think I'm doing God's law. I think I'm keeping God's law.
I gave a little bit of an extra on my tip at the restaurant and
my neighbor was taking out his trash and I said, let me get
that for you. And I think I'm keeping God's law. Once the eyes
are open to the truth of God's law, what God demands in his
commandments. especially the truth of His judgment
on sinners like us for breaking His law. When we see that, we realize
there's a lot of bad news in the truth. There's a lot of bad
news. But there is no bad news in the
gospel. None. None. The gospel is nothing
but good news. It is a declaration of good news,
and here's the third fact. The gospel is all about Christ. Not about you. It is not about
me. The gospel is all about Christ. All of it. It's all about who
He is, And what He did, and why He did
it. If we are going to talk about
the Gospel, a lot of people want to talk about the Gospel. They're
curious about these things. They want to sing some good old
Gospel songs, and people love the Gospel. Well, if we're going
to talk about the Gospel, we have to talk about Christ. We
have to. If we are not declaring the good
news of Christ, we are not declaring the gospel. Now let's read these verses again
with that in mind, alright? Verse 13, it says, And you, being dead in your sins,
and the uncircumcision of your flesh. That's the truth. That's the truth. The truth has
been laid out. That is the truth. Verse 13 goes
on to say, 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." That's the gospel. That's the gospel. That declaration is the gospel. Now let's just break this down
and declare it in a way that we can understand everything
it's saying and then we'll be done. Verse 13 says, and you
being dead. What does he mean by that? Alright,
here we all sit. Everybody got up, got dressed,
got in a car, ate breakfast, drove over, sang songs. What does he mean by that? He's
not talking about being dead physically. He's not talking
about being dead mentally. He's not talking about being
dead emotionally. He's talking about being dead
spiritually. Spiritually. Turn back a few
pages to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2 verse 1, it says,
And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins,
wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this
world. He said you were dead in trespasses
and sins, but you walked according to the course of this world.
You lived in the world. You were physically alive in
the world. But spiritually speaking, you walked, verse 2 goes on to
say, according to the prince of the power of the air. Spiritual
darkness. The spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience. And that's the condition that
every man and woman is in, in the flesh. That's the notification
of the truth. Everybody needs to know the truth.
I need to know the truth. You know that? We need to know
the truth. Don't send me to meet God with lies. I need to know
the truth. Here's the truth about me. Here's
the truth about you. We're all dead. This flesh is
spiritually dead. It is spiritually dead. Verse
3 says, Among whom also we all had our conversation in times
past. in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others." That was all of us.
Even us. Even us. Verse 4 says, "...but God." Now,
up to this point, He was talking about us. Now He's going to talk
about Him. Alright? Before, He started by
telling us the truth. And now He's going to tell us
the Gospel. Verse 4 says, But God, who is rich in mercy for
His great love wherewith He loved us. That's who He is. That's
who He is. When a sinner comes to know God, And it's the same thing as saying
when a sinner comes to know Christ, who is God, that's what that
sinner will say. He is so merciful. Who is He? He is merciful. He is kind. He is loving but God who is rich
in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us. Verse five says,
even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ, by grace you are saved and hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That's what he did. He quickened us together with
Christ and raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ. That's what He did. Alright,
now verse 7 says this is why He did it. That in the ages to
come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. Why did God save sinners? We know He didn't have to. We
know he did. Why did God save sinners? Here's
the reason why. Verse seven, that in the ages
to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. That's what he meant in chapter
one, verse three, when he said, blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. Every physical thing that comes
to us comes from God. Everything comes from God and
we're thankful for it. But physical things don't necessarily
translate to the blessings on the soul. Spiritual blessings. He said we're so thankful for
the spiritual blessings in heavenly places. And where are they? In
Christ. In the Lord Jesus Christ. So
here's the truth about every man and woman on this earth.
Here's the truth about every man and woman in this room. In our flesh, we're dead. In our flesh, all we can do is
dead things. Alright? In our flesh, all that
we can do is dead things. Here's some of the things we
can do. We can rot. Alright? We're dead and we can
only do dead things. So we can rot. We can stink. We can be a stench in His nostrils.
We can do that. We can be vile. We can corrupt. We can disease. We can produce
no good work acceptable to God. We can do those things. But that's
all we can do. If we are dead, If according
to the Word of God we are dead in our sins and the uncircumcision
of our flesh, then that's all that we can do. And here's the
bad news of the truth. That's what we are and that's
all that we can do. Now, who is Christ and what can
He do? Or better yet, and even better
news than that, what has He done? Who is Christ and what has He
done? Go with me back to Colossians
chapter 2. Colossians 2 verse 13 it says,
And you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, Hath he quickened together with him? Quickened means made
alive. It means to reanimate. It means regenerate. Christ is life. Christ is our life, but Christ
is all life. Christ is life. When the Lord created Adam from
the dust of the ground, the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who with
his hands created Adam from the dust of the ground. When he did
that, he made him to be a living soul. Which means He made something
that was perfectly united with Him. That's what it means. If He was a living soul. Adam
was alive because of his union with Christ. Christ is life. But when Adam sinned, he was
cast out of his union with Christ. Cast out of the garden, yes.
But that illustrated the fact that he was cast out of his union
with Christ. And the moment he lost union
with Christ, he died. The moment he lost union with
Christ, he spiritually died. To be joined together with Christ
is life. Everybody, you know, wants eternal
life. There are songs that say, anybody
here want to live forever? Anybody wants eternal life? Well,
Christ is life. To be joined together with Christ
is life. And to be separated from union
with Christ is death. That's what spiritual death is.
One man said it this way, and this is so good. This was told
to me, and this is so good. Physical death is separation
from the body. Physical death is separation
from the body. Spiritual death is separation
from God. So in order for life to come
back to God's people, in order for them to be quickened again,
they all had to be brought back into a vitally joined union with
Christ. Just like a branch that is severed
from a tree. If it's going to live again,
it has to be grafted back in. It has to be joined back in.
Now, what did it take for God's people, who were dead in their
sins, to be joined back together with Christ? What did He have
to do to accomplish that union again? Verse 13, it says, and
you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all
trespasses. Death cannot be joined to life. It's one or the other. Person's
not half dead, well he's half dead. No, you're either alive
or dead. Darkness cannot be joined to light. It's one or the other. And sin cannot be joined to sinlessness. It cannot be joined to sinlessness. It all had to be put away. So that's what Christ did. That's what he did. Verse 14
says, he blotted 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. Our union with him was lost because
of sin against his commandments. The commandments He gave to us.
Sin against His handwriting of ordinances. And this is what
the ordinances has to say to us because of our sin against
it. This is what it says. You are found lacking. This is
what God demands. This is everything God demands.
If you're gonna stand in His presence, you have to be this,
and you have to do this, and you better not ever do this.
And you are found lacking. That's what the handwriting on
the wall said to King Belshazzar. You may have heard that story
about King Belshazzar. He was so lifted up in his pride
and God came to him and he saw the finger of God writing on
the wall. And this is what he said. Daniel
translated it for him. It said, you are weighed in the
balances. You've been put on the scale
and you've come up short. You've sinned against God and
the wages of sin is death. That's the truth. That's the
truth. But here's the gospel. There
is one thing that can redeem you. There is one thing that can bring
remission from your sin. A person gets a disease of some
kind and they treat it and they remove it. When they do that,
they say that person is in remission. Free from it. Removed from it. Well, God said there is one thing
that can bring remission from your sin. There is one thing
that can remove it and set you free from it. Sinless blood. One thing. Not going back and writing all
your wrongs and not turning over that new leaf. One thing. Sinless blood. It has to be sinless
blood. Spotless blood. He said in Exodus
12, without spot and without blemish. And there's one place
you can find it. Emmanuel's veins. There's one
place, there's one thing, and there's only one place to get
it. The veins of God Himself. Look with me at 1 John chapter
1. 1 John 1 verse 7, But if we walk
in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one
with another. If we walk in that light, we
have fellowship. And the blood of Jesus Christ
His Son cleanseth us from all sin. What cleanses us? The blood of Jesus Christ. Revelation
1.5 says, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins
in his own blood. You want to know who God is? He was willing to love us and
wash us from our sins in his own blood. In his own blood. Every offense that the law had
against us. Every time the law said, it is
going to take blood to pay for that, Christ said, here it is.
Every single time. Every offense. He blotted out. He covered with blood. Every single ordinance that was
on record against His people. What that means is, all of His
people have a brand new record. He took the old record of every
soul that the Father gave to Him, and He nailed that old record
to His cross. He laid that old record, and
here's what it means. He laid your record, and He laid
my record. If God gave us to Christ, He
took everything you've done, your record. Oh, He has a record. She has a record. Well, he took
that record and laid it on himself and then nailed himself to his
cross. My sin, oh the bliss of this
glorious thought. Sometimes the Lord lets us enter
into this glorious thought. Sometimes. Sometimes God's people
get a glimpse of heaven. You know, Enoch was translated
that he should not see death. God just translated him into
the presence of God. Well sometimes, spiritually speaking,
just for a little moment, we get to be translated. And sometimes
we enter into the fact that my sin, oh the bliss of this glorious
thought, my life of sin, not in part, but the whole. is nailed to the cross. And I bear it no more. Praise
the Lord. Praise the Lord. Oh, my soul. Those soldiers didn't nail him
to the cross. You know, people say, well, if
I would have been alive back then, I wouldn't have let them do that
to him. Oh, they didn't. Those soldiers didn't nail him
to that cross. He nailed himself to that cross. You want to know who he is and
what he's like? He nailed Himself to that cross. Those soldiers were just the
pawns. They were just the means of carrying out His command.
I command you to nail me to that cross. This is the only reason
I came to this earth. I'll never forget the first time
I saw this one word right here. I'll never forget it. It just
got me good. Go back to our text, Colossians
2. Verse 13, And you being dead
in your sins, in 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. His cross. He took my sin and
my sorrow and He made them His very own. He bore the burden
to Calvary and suffered and died alone. He made every bit of that
His own. Even the cross, that was His
own. He borrowed the bed to lay His
head. He borrowed the bread when the
crowd was fed. He borrowed a room on the way
to the tomb. He borrowed the cave for Him
a grave. But the crown that He wore and
the cross that He bore, those were His. He made them His very own. The
thorns that stuck Him, that's our sin. Oh, Father, this hurts. This hurts. In that moment, that glorious
moment, verse 15 says, "...and having spoiled principalities
and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them." And if you have a center margin in your Bible, that last
word, it, translates Himself. Having spoiled principalities
and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in Himself. In His sacrifice on the cross,
the moment that He blotted out every ordinance against His people,
He overthrew every principality and power that His people were
held captive to. In that moment, He led captivity,
the captors of His people, captive. That means He won the victory.
That's what it means. And if we want to see that victory,
If we want to be reminded of the fact that we have been set
free from the captivity of Satan and sin and self, all we have
to do is look to Christ. That's all we have to do. If
we want to be assured of the fact that the battle is over,
and the victory is won, and freedom is secured, all we have to do
is look to the cross of Christ. That's it. Look to the Lamb of
God, that crown that He wore, that cross that He bore. Every
time that we see Christ crucified, we see Him, the end of verse
15 says, triumphing over them in Himself, crushing the head. He brought the battle into Himself,
and He won. That is the declaration of the
good news of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for His people.
That's the declaration. We're about to sing the song,
One Day. That's what we're going to close
with. One day. And I don't want to drag this
out, but let me read some of these words to you. One day when
heaven was filled with His praises, And there He was in glory one
day when sin down here was as black as could be. The Lord Jesus
came forth to be born of a virgin, dwelt among men. My example is
He. That means He was so perfect.
He lived such a perfect, spotless, sinless life for His people. One day they led Him up Calvary's
mountain. One day they nailed Him to die
on the tree, suffering anguish, despised and rejected, bearing
our sins. My Redeemer is He. One day, they
left him alone in the garden. One day, he rested from suffering
free. Angels came down over his tomb
to keep vigil, hope of the hopeless. My savior is he. This is one
of my favorite lines in a song. One day, the grave could conceal
him no longer. One day, the stone rolled away
from the door. Then He arose, over death He had conquered.
Whoever lives and believes in Him is never going to die. Do
you believe that? Never going to die. Now He is
ascended, my Lord, evermore. Now listen to this. One day,
and it's going to happen, it may be today, one day the trumpet
will sound for His coming. One day the skies with His glory
will shine. Wonderful day, my beloved ones,
bringing. Glorious Savior, this Jesus is
mine. Living, He loved me. Dying, He
saved me. Buried, He carried my sins far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day He's coming, and I can't
wait. I can't wait. Alright, let's all stand together
and sing that. It's hymn number 103.