If you're curious, yes, my preaching calendar is incredibly messed up.
We're supposed to be in Colossians 3 today, and we're not through Chapter 2.
So the preaching calendar is null and void at this point, but we are continuing in our
study of Colossians going into Chapter 2 and the final part there.
And shortly after the Lord saved me, I began participating in a non-denominational contemporary
worship service held in the building of a traditional Methodist church.
Have you heard that one before?
Probably not.
It actually happened.
Yeah, there was a traditional Methodist church.
It was my home church where I grew up, and they allowed a non-denominational contemporary
worship service to be held there.
And so I was participating in that, and I was playing music for them, and that's also
where I started preaching my very first sermons.
And I often pray for those people for having to listen to those very first sermons, so
God have mercy on their souls.
But it was really interesting because it was at that time that I felt the Lord was calling
me into pastoral ministry.
And I had the church confirm that.
A lot of people told me that I should consider going into ministry.
But the problem was, in order to go into ministry, I needed to go to school, and I wanted to
go to North Greenville because I think they have the best Christian studies program anywhere
in the country.
And so I wanted to go to North Greenville, but the problem was I had a debt at North
Greenville that prevented me from being able to reapply.
Because if you remember, I went to North Greenville for a semester, and then I was temporarily
paralyzed, had a dropout of school, and I had a debt there remaining that I could not reapply
until it was taken care of.
Now the debt was not big.
It was about $1,200.
But I was making $100 a week at this worship service.
So that was a year's salary for me.
So it seemed insurmountable to me.
I didn't think I was going to be able to pay that off.
And then something interesting happened, I was having a conversation with the guy who
was leading this service one day.
His name is Chris Pitts, and I believe in giving credit where it's due.
So his name's Chris Pitts, and he pulled me aside into a separate room, and I thought,
oh man, I'm in trouble.
It was something I said in one of my sermons.
I'm about to get kicked out of this service.
But he pulled me aside, and he said, hey, Andrea and I, Andrea is his wife.
He said, we see how the Lord has blessed you.
And we see that he's calling you into ministry, and we really want to help contribute to that.
We want to see you go through and go back to school.
And so he handed me a check for exactly $1,200.
And he said, we just got our tax return.
We wanted to give this to you.
I hope this can help.
Now that might not have seemed like a lot to him, because I don't know what they got
back on their tax return.
It could have been a lot more than that.
It might not have seemed like a lot to them.
But to me, that act was everything, because by that one act, he was taking care of this
problem from my past.
He was canceling a debt that was being held against me, and he was giving me the opportunity
to pursue the future that God was calling me to.
And it's amazing.
I was thinking about that as I was studying this passage, because that's very similar
to what Paul is saying here in Colossians chapter two.
He wants the Colossians to understand that as Christians, there are certain benefits
that you have, but he also wants you to understand that those benefits only come to you through
Jesus.
You do not get them through worldly philosophy.
You do not get them through religious legalism, or even through mysticism or being super
spiritual.
They only come to you through Jesus.
And I want you to notice, if you have your Bible and you write in your Bible, you can
get a pen, I want you to notice how much of an emphasis Paul puts on Jesus in this passage.
You can start in verse nine.
The Bible says, in him, circle that phrase, in him, the whole fullness of deity dwells
bodily.
In verse 10, he says, you have been filled in him.
Verse 11, he says, in him, you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands.
Verse 12, he says, and you were buried with him in baptism, and you were also raised with
him through faith.
In verse 13, he says, God made us alive together with him.
And in verse 15, he says, God triumphed over rulers and authorities in him.
So my question, church, who is the passage about?
It's about Jesus, right?
It's very clearly about Jesus.
It is all centered on and rooted in Jesus.
He's saying these benefits, yes, they come to you, but they only come through Jesus and
what he did for us on the cross.
And so the point he's trying to make is that we get to enjoy the blessings of new life
in Christ because Jesus paid it all.
We get to enjoy the blessings of new life in Christ because Jesus paid it all.
And that's the title of this message this morning.
It's also why I had Mazzan sing that hymn earlier like we did.
I love that hymn.
Jesus paid it all.
In the fifth verse, you might know it, but Baptists typically don't sing five verses,
but the fifth verse, it says this, and when before the throne, I stand in him complete.
Jesus died my soul to save, my lips shall still repeat.
Jesus paid it all.
All to him I owe.
When had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow.
And I can't help but wonder if the author of that hymn was thinking about and reading
Colossians as she wrote it because that's exactly what Paul says here.
We are complete in Christ and we will stand before the throne of God complete and even
then, even after we've been there 10,000 years, we will still say I am here for one
reason and one reason only and that is because Jesus Christ paid it all.
And so here's the question I want us to consider this morning.
If there are benefits to being in Christ, what are the benefits of new life in Christ?
What are the benefits of new life in Christ?
And Paul's going to mention at least two of them here that we get to enjoy now because
Jesus paid it all.
You can see the first one there in verses 11 through 12.
Notice it says, in him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by
putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.
Having been buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through
faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead.
Now Paul is going to mention here as he does two rites or two rituals and they are circumcision
and baptism.
And both of these were Jewish rituals.
You might say, hold on pastor, that's baptism, that's a Christian thing, that's not a Jewish
thing.
Actually it is a Jewish thing.
The Jewish people practiced baptism before the Christians practiced baptism, different
kind of meaning to both of them but some similarities there.
But the reason that Paul is mentioning these two things is because the false teachers who
were coming into the Colossian church trying to corrupt them and lead them astray were
insisting that you must be circumcised in order to be saved.
So if you were a male believer they said it is impossible for you to be a Christian unless
you were circumcised.
And this was going on not just in the Colossian church but it was widespread.
We read in Acts 15.1, but some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers
unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses you what?
Cannot be saved.
It's impossible for you to be saved.
So think back to the Old Testament.
Jewish males were circumcised on the eighth day of life.
And this was a physical act that was intended to correspond to a spiritual or inner reality.
When you put aside the flesh you were saying symbolically, spiritually I am committing myself
to putting aside the life of the flesh and living according to the flesh and the sins
of the flesh.
I am committing myself to living for God and following him.
And this was also the sign of the covenant.
Now here's the problem with circumcision and it became the problem with baptism as well
by the way.
People were taking the ritual and they were treating it like it was a magic charm.
And so people were basically saying as long as I am circumcised or because I have been
circumcised I am absolutely right in God's eyes.
I am absolutely going to heaven when I die.
I have no doubts about my salvation because I have been circumcised.
You see the same mentality today with baptism as well.
Do you not?
I wish I had a notebook for this where I have recorded every single time because I cannot
tell you the number of times I have had a conversation with someone about salvation.
And I ask them, do you have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ?
And their response is yes sir pastor, I was baptized when I was seven years old.
Fantastic.
That's great.
I was baptized like four times.
Okay, so imagine what that means to me.
I didn't ask you if you had ever been dunked before.
I asked you if you had a saving relationship with Jesus Christ and listen to me church,
your baptism does nothing to answer that question.
Do you understand that?
Do we get that?
Just because you've been baptized does not mean you're going to get to be with God forever.
But that was the problem.
The ceremony stopped representing this inward reality and instead it became this magic charm.
And you might say, well pastor, surely no one at the time actually believed that circumcision
saved them.
But they did.
In fact, the Jewish rabbis at the time had two very famous saints.
The first one was circumcised men do not go to Gehenna.
Circumcised men do not go to Gehenna.
And the second one was circumcision will deliver Israel from Gehenna.
So what were the people of Israel trusting in?
Circumcision right?
Yeah.
So their trust was not in God's saving power to deliver them and rescue them.
All of their hope and their trust was placed in circumcision to deliver them.
And Paul is confronting this idea and notice he doesn't say, therefore now go and be circumcised.
Instead he says, in him you were circumcised.
The circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of flesh, the circumcision of
Christ.
And you might say, well, what does that actually mean pastor?
What is the circumcision of Christ?
It's referring to Jesus's death on the cross, his crucifixion.
At the cross it wasn't just part of his body that was cut off, but it was his entire body
that was cut off and put to death at the cross.
And the Bible is saying that when we are united to Jesus by faith, we partake in that circumcision
and get to benefit from it.
So obviously it's not speaking literally here, but spiritually, because we did not literally
die at the cross, but spiritually speaking we were put to death at the cross of Christ
and so were our sins.
So was the body of flesh because we get to partake in his death through faith.
And spiritually speaking, I mean circumcision was always understood to represent something
spiritual.
Moses even said all the way back in Deuteronomy 10.16.
Is therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no longer stubborn.
So what is he saying there?
You went through with the ritual.
That's great.
That's fantastic.
But unless that ritual corresponds with an inner spirituality, it's meaningless.
And the same thing is true of baptism.
If after your baptism you continue living the same way you did before your baptism, then
your baptism was a lie because it doesn't actually correspond to something inward and
spiritual about you.
You just went through the waters.
And that's great that you did that, but it's useless and meaningless unless it corresponds
to something true of you spiritually.
And you need to understand that both circumcision and baptism, they have to do with cleansing.
In circumcision when you put aside the flesh, it was a cleansing of the flesh.
It was symbolically saying I'm putting aside the sins of the flesh and living according
to the flesh.
And so you are cleansed from those sins.
The same thing is true about baptism.
The water in part symbolizes being washed clean of all of our sins.
And also this passage here is why we as Baptists baptize by immersion.
I mean for one the Greek word baptizo, it means literally to immerse.
And so we baptize by immersion, but also it's because of the picture that we get here from
these verses.
And if you're a visual learner, I've included a picture for you to look at.
But notice what this passage says and how it corresponds to baptism.
You think about the act of baptism.
As we descend into the waters, it is a picture of us dying to ourselves, dying to our flesh,
dying to our sins and being buried with him.
And so that's exactly what it says here in verse 12, that we were buried with him.
That's the picture of descending.
And then as you rise out of the waters, it's a picture of having new life in Christ, of
being made new and washed clean and raised to life with Christ through faith in him,
as it says here in verse 12.
So that's the whole reason that we do that by the way, and there's just a picture for
you.
But here's what I want you to understand.
So everybody pay attention to this.
Listen to this.
That is what baptism pictures, but baptism cannot make that a reality.
Do we understand that?
That's the picture of baptism, but baptism does not actually make that a reality.
You can think about it like this.
Anna and I, we know this couple, and they were serving as missionaries in Africa.
And they used to post pictures all the time with updates from their ministry and marriage
and videos and pictures and everything.
And we would look at them and we'd think, man, everything is going great over there.
Like this is amazing.
They've got this thriving ministry.
They look so happy together.
Everything seems to be going great.
And so we called them recently to find out how we could partner with them in their ministry
over there.
We wanted to be part of it.
And when Anna called, that's when she found out that not only was their ministry completely
over, but their marriage was over because the wife had cheated on her husband with another
man.
And it was a painful reminder to me that you can post all the happy pictures you want to
try to portray your life and your marriage in a certain way to other people.
But listen to me.
You posting those happy pictures can actually give you a happy marriage.
It can picture it, but it can't make it a reality.
In the same way Paul is saying that circumcision and baptism, they cannot make you right with
God.
They cannot save you.
Only Jesus can do that.
You have to turn from your sins and trust in Him.
And when you do that, the Bible says you will be cleansed.
And so the point that Paul is making here is because Jesus paid it all, he has completely
cleansed us from all our sins.
Because Jesus paid it all, he has completely cleansed us from all our sins.
And the great news for you as a Christian this morning is that Jesus has cleansed you
so completely and in such a way that none of your past sins and none of your present
sins and none of your future sins can damage or corrupt the cleansing that Jesus has brought
about in your life.
You might ask, well, how's that possible pastor?
Because here's two things I know about everybody.
Number one, nobody in this room is perfect.
Amen.
Yeah, we should all agree to that.
And then number two is that every single person in this room, your pastors included still
struggle with sin.
Right?
None of us are perfect and we all still struggle with sin.
And so if sin is what condemned us in the first place, how is it possible that we can
still struggle with sin but it not actually damage or corrupt our soul?
Well, as many of you know, I used to work at Lowe's and when I worked at Lowe's, I worked
in the flooring department.
So I was working with tile pretty much every day, which is not good for your back or knees,
but I did it and it was not fun.
So I don't plan on going back there.
So y'all keep me around for a little bit, but I worked with tile and it was interesting
because I'd have people come in and they always made sure to get their mortar and their tile
and their grout.
They're pretty much the three main things they got.
And I always told them, make sure that you get a sealer for your grout.
And that's a skipped step, but there's a reason you do that.
It's because when you seal the grout, it keeps dirt from damaging or corrupting the grout
itself or from losing color.
It's also really helpful because any bit of dirt that does get on it, you can just easily
remove it without it corrupting the grout underneath.
In a very remarkably similar way, the Bible says that when Jesus saved us, God did not
leave us unsealed.
If Jesus had simply died on the cross force and then left us unsealed, the very first
time you sinned after your salvation, your soul would be corrupted again.
You would be damned all over again.
And yet the Bible says that when Jesus died for our sins and when we trust in him, that
God the Father seals us with the promised Holy Spirit.
And because we have the promised Holy Spirit as our seal, our soul is completely unable
to be corrupted or damaged again by our sins.
That's the great news for Christians is that no matter how much you still struggle, God
has sealed you and he keeps you and he will not allow you to fall or be lost or allow
your soul to be corrupted because you have this sealing brought about in your life where
you had sin that stains you now.
The Bible says our garments have been washed white as snow.
You read about that in Revelation 7.14.
They've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.
Are you thinking back to the song that we sang earlier, sin had left a what?
A crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow.
And so really what the point here is that if you are in Christ, this blessing is yours,
you now are called to put off the body of the flesh and live a new life for Jesus.
So listen to me say it like this.
You cannot claim to be a Christian and you cannot claim to have new life in Christ if
nothing about your life actually changes.
There has to be some visible change that comes about in your life.
We read in Romans 6 verses 6 through 7.
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be
brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin for one who has died has
been set free from sin.
And so it is in Christ that you have this freedom and it is only those in Christ who
can actually live life to the fullest because it is only those in Christ who are no longer
under the domination of sin.
We're no longer enslaved to sin.
Jesus has set us free because at his cross he paid it all for us.
I want you to notice also this other benefit here in verses 13 and 14.
It says in you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God
and made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record
of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.
This he set aside nailing it to the cross and all of God's people said, Amen to that.
I mean these are some wonderful verses and I think it's something that's really clearly
articulated here but hopefully you didn't miss is that these verses make it very clear
that salvation is entirely, not partially, not mostly, salvation is entirely a work of
God.
Do you see that here?
The Bible says you were dead and God made you alive together with him.
These verses do not say that you were made alive because you decided to be made alive
one day.
These verses do not say that it was because you tried your very best to be made alive
and these verses do not say that you did your part and met God halfway and God honored your
effort and decided to make you alive together with Christ.
These verses teach that you were dead but God made you alive together with Christ.
And it has to be a work of God.
And the reason it has to be a work of God is because here's the thing about dead people.
Dead people can't do anything.
And so if you are truly dead in your sins there is nothing you can do to help yourself.
You can't make a decision, you can't do anything that is pleasing to God without God first
doing something in your heart.
Think about it like this, if I were to suddenly die here in this pulpit as is my dream though
Anna tells me I can't say that anymore but if that were to happen today and I were to
drop dead in this pulpit it would be absolutely pointless for you to come up here and shake
me and say Pastor Alex do you want us to continue with the service?
Do you see why that would be ridiculous?
Because dead people can't make decisions folks.
Dead people can't do anything.
It is one of the key defining characteristics of being dead.
And so these verses are not saying good for you, you did everything that was needed to
be done and God honored that.
According to what these verses are saying and marvel at it with me these verses are showing
and displaying the unbelievable mercy and grace and love of God towards His people.
That He would look at people who rebelled against Him, who deserve death and damnation,
who can do nothing for themselves, who are literally dead in their sins, unable to do
anything to save themselves, make themselves alive or do anything pleasing to God and for
no other reason than God's own glory and because of His great mercy He decided to make you
alive together with Christ.
So long before you ever made a decision for Christ and I know that's our common phrase
in the church we made a decision for Christ, listen to me say this, long before you ever
made a decision for Christ God made a decision for you.
And He decided to show you mercy and grace when you deserve death and damnation and He
breathed new life into you and made you alive together with Christ.
Praise God for what He has done.
And you might ask well how did He do this exactly?
How are we made alive?
It says by forgiving us all our trespasses and canceling the record of death that stood
against us, this He set aside by nailing it to the cross.
And there's actually a really beautiful parallel here that maybe you haven't thought about
before.
But if you remember the crucifixion of Jesus the Bible says they nailed a sign to His cross.
I've included a picture here for you to look at.
It was written in Aramaic, in Greek, and in Latin so that everybody could read it and
see.
And this is what the Bible says in Matthew 2737.
And over His head they put the charge against Him, now you can write that word down, circle
it, underline it, keep that in mind.
They put the charge against Him which read this is Jesus, the King of the Jews.
Here's what you need to understand.
This inscription was meant to declare to the world and everybody watching the crucifixion
the crime for which Jesus was being crucified.
This was the charge so that anybody who looked at the cross they could see this is why He's
dying.
Jesus claimed to be the King of the Jews.
The Jewish people said that that was blasphemy and so He deserved to die for that blasphemous
sin in their eyes.
But here's what's amazing.
That was only the visible charge that was nailed to the cross.
The Bible tells us here that there were all sorts of other charges nailed to that cross
that no one except God knew about.
The Bible is saying that God took every single sin you have ever committed.
And He took every single sin that you would ever commit.
He took every single reason He had not to love you and not to include you in His family
and not to give you eternal life.
He took every single reason to condemn you and then God nailed it to the cross.
And those were the charges for which Christ actually died.
Nothing that He had done.
Everything that we have done.
And those were the charges against Him.
That's why the Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 that He made Him to be sin who knew
no sin.
After that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
When Jesus shed His own blood the payment for our sin was made and the record of debt
that stood against us was canceled forever.
And so the point is because Jesus paid it all, He has canceled our debt entirely.
Because Jesus paid it all, He has canceled our debt entirely.
Now everyone in here knows this this morning, right?
Yes, this is nothing novel.
Everyone knows this because this is a common church thing to know.
But maybe you haven't thought about the implications for your life.
Because here's what I've noticed just from my interaction with other Christians.
If you're a Christian the Bible says that all of your sins have been forgiven, yes?
But I talk to people and they say, I know that God says I'm forgiven but I can't forgive myself.
The Bible says in the book of Hebrews in chapter 10 that God chooses to remember our sins no longer.
Yet it has been my experience with Christians that they can't seem to forget their sins.
The Bible says here that the record of debt that stood against us has been canceled entirely.
And yet how many Christians today are still holding that debt against themselves?
My question to you is if God no longer holds your sins against you then why are you still
holding your sins against yourself?
If God has truly canceled our debt then church, shouldn't the guilt that came with that debt
equally be canceled?
I love the story the great reformer Martin Luther told of a dream he had one night.
And he said in this dream Satan came to him and Satan brought with him this scroll and
he unrolled it before Luther.
And written in that scroll in Luther's own hands were all the sins he had ever committed.
And it was signed at the bottom with Luther's own signature.
And Satan asked him, did you really do all of this?
And Luther said yes, I did.
And so Satan continued to bring him scroll after scroll after scroll and each time he
would ask him, have you really done all of these things and you think that God loves
you?
You think you're going to get to be with God forever?
You think that you're saved after you have done all of these things?
And Luther said that he was overwhelmed by guilt in that moment until he reflected on
the gospel message and he finally looked to Satan and he said it is true.
Every word of it.
But mark it out and write across it, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son cleanses us from
all sins.
Luther went on to say, when I look to myself, I can't see how I could possibly be saved.
When I look to Jesus, I can't see how I could possibly be lost.
That is what Jesus has done for us.
And I want to warn you about this.
Satan still does this same thing today.
The Bible calls Satan the accuser.
And he loves nothing more than reminding Christians of all of their sins, reminding Christians
of all the reasons God shouldn't love them, reminding Christians of all the debt they
owe to God because of their sins.
And you know what happens when he does this to us?
How often are we like Luther and we're overwhelmed with our guilt?
And we feel burdened by it.
I know myself personally, I carry this around all the time when I think back over my life
and all that I've done, and that guilt weighs on me and it burdens me.
And I'm tempted to believe the lies of the accuser, which is why it is so important for
all of us to remember in those times that it is not the cleanness of our living, and
it is not the greatness of our life that will silence the ancient enemy Satan.
The Bible says it is the blood of the Lamb that silences the accuser.
Revelation 12.11 says, And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word
of their testimony, for they love not their lives even unto death.
You see the way the Bible pictures it is that Satan is like a prosecuting attorney in the
courtroom of God.
And just as much as Jesus lives to make intercession for his people, Satan lives to accuse God's
people.
And he goes before the Lord and he throws out accusation after accusation.
And he demands that God give his people what they deserve.
These people are horrible.
They deserve death.
They deserve damnation.
They deserve nothing good.
And he says, God, if you were just and if you were righteous, you will condemn them.
But then praise be the Lord.
The Bible says our defense attorney, Jesus, stands up.
And he says, Father, Your honor, everything he says is true.
They are guilty on all counts.
But everything that he has just said, I've already paid for.
And everyone he's just accused is covered by my blood.
And with that, the case is settled.
That's why the Bible says in Romans 8, verses 33 and 34, who shall bring any charge against
God's elect?
It is God who justifies.
Listen to that church.
You don't justify yourself.
Your life doesn't justify you.
Your baptism doesn't justify you.
Satan cannot bring a charge against God's elect because God is the one who justifies.
Who is to condemn?
Not Satan, because Christ Jesus is the one who died.
More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God and is indeed interceding
for us.
How great is that to know and to remember on a daily basis that as often as Satan gets
up to accuse you, Jesus gets up to defend you and to plead his life and his blood over
you.
Jesus will not allow a single charge to go unchecked.
He will not allow a single accusation to stand.
He has paid it all for his people and the accuser can do nothing to us.
He cannot condemn us because Jesus has redeemed us.
This is what God offers us in Christ church.
This is the freedom that is offered to us in Jesus.
Freedom from bondage to sin.
Freedom from corruption by sin.
Freedom from the condemnation because of sin.
Freedom from the guilt of sin.
This is ours in Christ.
Because he paid it all, we've been cleansed completely.
Our debt has been canceled entirely and we now get to live the abundant life that Christ
promises his people.
And it is all for one reason and one reason only.
And that is because Jesus paid it all.
Amen.
Let's pray.