Colossians chapter 2. I'm going to begin reading in verse 9,
For in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form, and in him you have been made
complete, and he is the head over all rule and authority. And in him you were also circumcised
with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the
circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also
raised up with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. And when
you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive
together with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having cancelled out the
certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us. And he has
taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When he had disarmed the rulers
and authorities, he made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through him.
Of all the confusion that reigns in the realm of religious thinking, perhaps there is none
greater than the confusion over the law given by God to Moses. That law is given primarily
in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. The Mosaic Law provided for the ceremonial,
social, and personal regulations for the people of Israel as they became a nation. Within that
law of God, he revealed to Israel, and for that matter to the whole world, his moral standard
for righteous living. The moral law is perhaps summed up in the Ten Commandments of God.
Now because that moral law reflects the Creator God's eternal nature, it is timeless and it
is universal. It applies to all people in all ages. The Ten Commandments or the moral law of God
is as relevant in the 1990s as it ever has been. It is important to understand that the
moral law of God is good. As a matter of fact, if people would only keep the Ten Commandments,
it would revolutionize human society. Have you ever thought about that? It would end
in justice. It would bring to a conclusion poverty and crime and war, exploitation, oppression,
and every other human ill, if only people would keep the Ten Commandments. The moral law of God
is good. It is good for man, except that there is a problem. And that problem is man. Humans are
sinners by nature and will not and cannot live by the Creator's moral law. God gave us the moral
law to expose the sinfulness of our hearts to ourselves. God gave the moral law to us to show
us our own rebellion and self-centeredness. It was God's intent in doing so to bring us to the
recognition of our need for a Savior. The Apostle Paul calls the law a school master, a teacher to
bring us to Christ. A dear friend of mine who is now with the Lord, evangelist Fred Brown, said
regarding the law that it's like a dentist's mirror. The dentist, you know, shines that, puts
that mirror in your mouth and shines the light in there so he can see the flaws in your teeth,
but that mirror can do nothing to correct the problem. It only shows the problem. That's what
the law is like. He said, further, the law is like a flashlight. The electricity in your house
goes out, you grab the flashlight, you turn it on to try to find what the problem is. The
flashlight can't correct the problem, but it can show you what the problem is. Thirdly, he said
it's like a plum line that a builder uses. It can show where the building may be wrongly
constructed. It can't correct the problem, but it can show the problem. That's how the law is, and
that's why God gave it. And yet there are many who are confused about the moral law of God. They
think that by trying to keep the Ten Commandments, or by keeping man-made religious rules and
regulations, they can somehow make themselves righteous or can curry favor with God. But you
see, trying to keep the Ten Commandments or to keep rules is not enough. God cannot accept
into his fellowship even one sin. God is holy and righteous and just, and his nature demands
that he punish each and every sin. And so if a person fails but once to keep God's moral
law, he's disqualified from fellowship with God. And yet this idea persists that by keeping
rules and working hard, human beings can gain merit with God. And that understanding, that
notion is what might be called legalism. Legalism is really a doctrine of demons, as our text
suggests. Satanic spirits promote works as a means to righteousness, and they encourage
human-originated religions built around the idea of keeping rules to please God. The
Colossians were being enticed by false teachers to turn aside from their faith in Jesus Christ
and to adopt rule keeping, or at least to add it to their faith. They were being tempted
to embrace the concept in the notion of keeping rules of legalism. As a matter of fact, adding
rules to faith nullifies the gospel. The gospel is salvation by grace, through faith, apart
from rule keeping and human works. And to add human works or to add rule keeping nullifies
the gospel. Furthermore, when one has trusted Jesus Christ and then turns to legalism to
try to become more holy, it does not produce holiness, and it does not produce maturity
in his life. It produces frustration, or perhaps even worse, self-righteousness. That's why
I'm saying to you today, based upon our text, that Jesus Christ is supreme over legalism.
Now there are three significant results that come out of that statement and flow out of
our text. The first result is this, that Jesus Christ is God, and in him we are complete.
The apostle says in verse 9, in him in Christ, all the fullness of deity dwells. That is,
all of the nature of God resides or finds a home in Jesus Christ. This is one of the
most marvelous statements of Christology, or the doctrine of Christ in the New Testament.
It is a clear assertion on the part of the apostle of the deity of Jesus Christ. It
means that he was and he is absolute and perfect God. What Paul says in verse 9, uses some
of the familiar language of the false teachers and applies it to Jesus Christ in a way that
attacks and completely destroys what they were saying, for they denied the deity of Christ.
They like to talk about the pluroma, the fullness. Paul says, look, all that God is, is in him.
He lacks nothing of deity. And not only that, it resides in him in bodily form. You see,
the false teachers had some concept of dualism, philosophic dualism, which teaches that spirit
is good, matter is evil. That's why in their religion they had to concoct some sort of a
connection between God who is pure spirit and man. And they said God could not fellowship
with man or dwell with man, so there have to be all of these layers or emanations between
God and us. And they said Jesus Christ is a high emanation. He's one of the emanations
God created between himself and us, along with all these others. And what the apostle says
here is that all the fullness of God dwells in the material body of Jesus Christ. He destroys
the concept here of dualism that matter is evil. And in doing so, he not only asserts
the full deity of Jesus Christ, but his full humanity as well. For the humanity of Jesus
was not merely a shroud for his deity. He was fully man as well as fully God. And having
asserted that, the apostle goes on to say, and in him you have been made complete. The
word complete is related to the word fullness. All the fullness of God dwells in Christ and
in him you have been filled up. You have been made full. You have been made complete. In
him, in other words, by our union with Jesus Christ, the Christian is accepted by God as
much as Christ himself. The Christian lacks nothing that is needed for God's full approval
and acceptance. For in him, the Scripture says, we are complete. Now if you're thinking with
me, you'll remember the back in verse 28 of chapter 1, the apostle said that his goal was
to present every man complete in Christ. In other words, it was not yet attained. He says,
I am pushing for that, that all might be mature, complete in Jesus Christ. But here in verse
10 of chapter 2, he says, you've been made complete, which is true. And the answer is
both. The English translation uses complete in both places, but it's two different Greek
words. Back in chapter 1, he says, we want to present every man mature, full grown in
Christ. Here the apostle uses a different word that means that we have all that we need
in Christ. In other words, it is possible for one to be complete in Christ and yet not to
be mature. And that is the case indeed with all of us. To some degree, for none of us has
arrived yet to complete maturity. Hopefully we're on the road in that direction. And so
the apostle is saying to them to add law keeping to completeness is superfluous. Why do you
need the law? Why do you need to keep rules and regulations? For in Jesus Christ, who is
full God, you have been made full. You lack nothing. Curtis Vaughn writes in the expositor's
Bible commentary, in union with Christ, our every spiritual need is fully met, possessing
him. We possess all. We need nothing more than Jesus Christ. And so don't allow anyone to
come to you either and say, you need something more in your religious experience. Oh, you
save by faith in Christ, but you need to do this as well. The apostle says no. Jesus Christ
is God, and in him we are complete. We need nothing more. John Calvin said, you are made
full. It does not mean that the perfection of Christ is transfused into us, but that there
are in him resources from which we may be filled that nothing be wanting in us. Now there's
a second significant result from this idea of Jesus Christ supremacy over legalism. It
is this. He wrought salvation, and in him we are forgiven. He is God, and in him we are
complete. Secondly, he wrought salvation, and in him we are forgiven. Christ accomplished
on the cross the work of salvation on behalf of sinners. His death was a substitutionary
death, a vicarious death. He died for us. He was buried for us. He was raised again for
us. Those are historic facts. The gospel rests upon them. There's another half to that truth,
and that is that when Jesus Christ died, we died with him. And when he was buried, we
were buried with him. And when he was raised from the dead by the power of God, we were
raised with him. Those too are historic facts. So the apostle claims the rituals and rules
of the law have no claim on us, therefore. And he picks out perhaps one of the most well
known symbols of the law, and that is circumcision. Circumcision was commanded of every male child
in Israel. It was the sign of the covenant. And the apostle says in verse 11, in him,
you were also circumcised, but with a circumcision made without hands. In other words, he says
it wasn't the kind of circumcision that's a part of the law, physical circumcision. It's
a different kind of circumcision, spiritual circumcision. He says it's the removal of
the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. The body of the flesh refers to
all that we were in Adam, our old nature, the sinful self with which we were born, the
uncleanness of our first birth. The totality of all that we were in Adam, he says, was cut
away from us by the circumcision of Christ, talking about Christ's death. He's using it
there as an analogy. He says you were buried with him in baptism. Now baptism in the New
Testament becomes something of a corollary to circumcision in the Old Testament in this
sense. Circumcision indicated being a part of the covenant of the law. Baptism is the
outward sign of being a part of the covenant of grace. But behind the physical act of
baptism, which does not save the soul any more than physical circumcision, saved people
in ancient Israel, behind baptism is the truth of identification. We are identified with
Christ in his death, his burial, and his resurrection. That's what Paul brings to the
forefront. He says, buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised up with him
through faith, not through the act of baptism, but through faith in the working of God who
raised him from the dead. What he's saying here is that what happened to Jesus happened
to you and me. He was crucified. We were crucified with him, the old people that we were, the
old nature, the old Adamic eye was crucified with Christ. And I was buried and you were
buried and I was raised and you were raised, if you believe in Christ, raised a new person
in Christ. It is this gospel truth of our identification with Christ that secures our
salvation. He absorbed into himself all of the penalty of the law. When he died upon
the cross, he died as one who was condemned by the law in our place. You see, the law
had put us into debt. The apostle talks about that in verses 13 and 14. We had transgressed
the law because of our sin. We were deep into debt. The law not only pronounced us guilty
of transgression, it demanded justice. It demanded that we pay for our sin. It condemned
us to death unjustly. But that debt of our sin was eliminated through Christ's full
payment. It says in verse 14, he erased, he rubbed out, he cancelled out the certificate
of debt consisting of decrees against us. It was hostile to us. The law opposed us because
we were sinful. It says he's taken it out of the way, having nailed it to his cross.
See it this way. Jesus Christ picked up that statement of debt, what you have owed due
to your transgression of the law. And on the cross, he nailed that certificate of debt
there saying, paid in full, so that we are forgiven. He wrought salvation. And in him,
by our union with him, we are forgiven. Having forgiven, I like that next word, having forgiven
us all our transgressions. Let me ask you a question. How many of your transgressions
had you committed when Christ died for you? You weren't even alive, and yet he forgave
you for all of them. See the word all embraces all time. It means before you were saved.
It means after you were saved. It means that all of your transgressions that you've committed
up until this very moment are all forgiven by Christ. And it means that every transgression
that you've not yet committed but will today, tomorrow, and every day until the day you
see Christ, they're all, all, all forgiven. That's how complete Christ's work of salvation
is. In him, you are forgiven. His work resolves all of the issues between God and man.
Why do you need the law? The law only condemns. The law can only shine its light on the problem.
It can't do anything about it. Why do you want the law, says Paul? Christ has paid the price
the law demanded. Don't return to the law. Don't return to rulekeeping. Jesus Christ is
supreme over legalism. Don't add it to your faith. That's not the gospel. First result
of Christ being supreme over legalism is that he is God, and in him every believer is complete.
Finally, he wrought salvation at the cross, for he paid the debt of the law, and in him
every believer is forgiven of all of the transgressions that the law shows. The third significant result
is that he conquered satanic powers, and in him we are victors. It says, when he had disarmed
the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them, having triumphed over them.
The rulers and authorities in this context refer to demonic spirits, to cosmic spirits,
to fallen angels who have followed Satan. These beings promote the idea of legalism.
They promote the idea of religious works, and they do that in order to confuse people's minds
and to cloud the issue of grace. They also do it to increase bondage of sinners to the law,
and the debt that sinners owe to a hostile law. Demons love to promote works and rulekeeping,
but Jesus Christ has removed that weapon from their wicked hands. He has taken the bondage
of the law out of the way. He has disarmed the rulers and authorities. He has stripped them
of what they could use against us. The law's claims were destroyed by the cross of Christ,
and the powers of darkness can no longer use the claims of the law to confound us. Christ
has publicly shamed them and humiliated them. The picture in verse 15 is a very clear picture
of a victorious general, in this case Jesus Christ, leading his troops, his procession
in victory. The stripped, captured enemy soldiers being brought along and being displayed openly
in their shame, as defeated and humiliated. Jesus Christ has conquered Satan, and in him
we too are victors. We share in that victory, and we do not need to listen to the whispering
voices of demonic spirits anymore that bring condemnation and shame and guilt to us. We
don't have to listen to them when they say that we are worthless. God can never use you.
Look what you've done. In Jesus Christ we are victors. They have been stripped of their
powers. Let's give them no authority. Give them no heed in our lives, because Christ
has conquered them, and in him we too triumph. Jesus Christ is supreme over legalism. He
has destroyed it as a means to gain a right standing with God. Legalism is not a proper
expression of the law or of religion. The believer is saved by faith in a Savior who
bore on the cross the weight of his transgressions. He is saved by faith in a Savior who
lived righteously and who gives his own righteousness to the believer, so that in God's eyes
God sees us as those who have perfectly obeyed the law. He sees us as perfectly moral people
in Christ. Do not mistakenly think that any good deeds or any rule keeping that you may
do will gain you heaven or improve your standing with God. That is an eternal and a deadly
error. If you are here today and you think that somehow yes it's God's grace, but I
have to do my part. Listen, Christ has done it all. All you have to do is receive it.
H.A. Ironsides tells the story of a young man who went to a meeting and gave his testimony
about how he was saved by the grace of God and that the person who was in charge of the
meeting was a legalist. When the young man was done he got up to correct him and he said
well young man we appreciate what you said. But before God did his part you had to do
your part. The young man stood back up and he said you're absolutely right and my part
was to run from God for 30 years. And he chased me down and found me. That was my part. God's
part was to intervene and to save me. Your part my friend is but to receive as a free
gift what Christ has done for you. Picture it in these elements that we remembered this
time. If you've done that and you are a believer in Jesus Christ these final words to you seek
nothing beyond Jesus Christ. For in him you have all that you need. You don't need another
experience. You don't need something more to make you complete. You have in Jesus Christ
all you need draw upon his resources. Secondly enjoy your freedom from the law's indictment.
No longer live under guilt for sins that Christ has paid for that are under the blood of Christ.
Don't try to make yourself guilty for things God's forgotten about. And certainly don't
listen to the devil as he tries to make you feel guilty over things that he enticed you
to do in the first place. The devil is tricky that way isn't he? He'll say oh well go ahead.
He won't make any difference. Everybody else has done it and you do it and he says now look
what you've done. That's the way it works. Some of you are still listening to the voice
of the devil and you're laboring under guilt that God's long ago forgiven. So enjoy your
freedom from the law's indictment. The law is satisfied with you in Christ. And claim
your victory over the powers of darkness. For in Jesus Christ you are triumphant. In
Him you are more than a conqueror. Back in 1929 on New Year's Day Georgia Tech played
UCLA in the Rose Bowl. Some of you though you may not have been there have heard about what
happened in that game. There was a man named Roy Riggles who recovered a fumble for UCLA.
After recovering the fumble he got confused and ran 65 yards in the wrong direction and
would have made a touchdown for the opposing team if one of his own players had not intercepted
him and tackled him. He became known as I think it was wrong way Riggles wasn't he?
And you know in half time that happened in the first half. At half time he was thoroughly
embarrassed. He sat over in the side of the room the coach came in you know he didn't
know what to expect. The coach didn't say much. All of his teammates sat there in quietness
and finally the coach said well men let's get out there and let's play this second
half. The team got up to leave and they did but Riggins sat there on the floor weeping
out of shame and embarrassment. He said coach I can't do it to save my life. I've ruined
you. I've ruined the University of California. I've ruined myself. I couldn't face the crowd
in the stadium to save my life. Can you identify with him? Then the coach his name was Nibbs
Price put his hands on the man's shoulders and he said Riggles get up and go on back.
The game is only half over. And Riggles went back out and the coach put him in the game
and those who saw the game said they never saw a man play as hard as he did in the second
half. And some of you are saying to yourself I just can't go on. I've blown it too big.
What I'm saying to you this morning is my friend in Jesus Christ you're complete. You have all
you need. You may have blown it. The game is only half over. Get out there and go on.
Let's pray. Father for that brother or sister who's here this morning who feels he or she
can't be used. They've made too many mistakes. If you're guilty under condemnation. Oh I pray
that what Paul says in this paragraph may grip their hearts. They may see that in Jesus
Christ they're complete in Jesus Christ they've been forgiven in Jesus Christ they are victors.
And may they get in the rest of the game of life and give you everything give their best.
Drop on the resources in Christ and know the victories you intend for them to know.
Thank you for Jesus. Thank you that he on our behalf satisfied the demands of the law
so that we might be forgiven and saved by grace. Amen.