Nothing to Add: The Sufficiency of Christ

• Sufficiency of Christ 00:24:35 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor argues that believers have everything they need in union with Jesus Christ and do not need to add rituals or legalistic practices to their faith.
• Colossian Heresy and Legalism 00:29:08 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that the false teaching in Colossae required Gentile believers to undergo circumcision to be complete, which he identifies as adding to Christ rather than relying on His sufficiency.
• Spiritual Circumcision 00:27:16 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor introduces the concept of 'circumcision made without hands' as a spiritual reality in Christ, contrasting it with the physical ritual required by the false teachers.
• Circumcision and the Colossian Heresy 00:29:08 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that Paul addresses the Colossian heresy, which required Gentile believers to undergo physical circumcision to complete their maturity in Christ, labeling it as an ancient form of virtue signaling and adding to Christ.
• Spiritual Circumcision of the Heart 00:31:19 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor distinguishes between the physical sign of the Abrahamic covenant and the spiritual reality of the 'circumcision of the heart' performed by the Holy Spirit at conversion, which cuts off the old life.
• Christ's Death as Spiritual Circumcision 00:33:52 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor interprets 'removal of the body of the flesh' as referring to Christ's death on the cross, where He was 'cut off' from the Father, allowing believers to share in His death and die to their former way of life.
• Baptism as Identification with Christ 00:36:13 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that baptism pictures the believer's identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, emphasizing that faith in God's work, not the act of baptism itself, saves.
• Forgiveness and the Burden of Guilt 00:38:36 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor discusses the tyranny of guilt, using the example of Albert Speer to illustrate the burden of a guilty conscience, and contrasts this with the complete forgiveness of all sins (past, present, and future) available through Christ.
• Regeneration and Spiritual Life 00:42:52 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor connects regeneration (being born again) with forgiveness, stating that one cannot have spiritual life apart from the forgiveness of transgressions, as God makes us alive together with Christ having forgiven us.
• Forgiveness and Redemption 00:41:55 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that all sins, past and future, have been forgiven and canceled by God, referencing Colossians 1-3.
• Biblical Imagery of Forgiveness 00:43:45 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor lists biblical metaphors for forgiveness, including removing iniquities as far as the east is from the west, casting sins behind His back, and remembering them no more.
• The Certificate of Debt 00:44:44 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains the metaphor of the 'certificate of debt' (IOU) representing our legal standing before God, which was canceled out by Christ.
• The Titulus and the Cross 00:48:23 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the image of the Roman titulus (placard) to illustrate how Christ took the record of our sins and nailed it to the cross, annulmenting it.
• Defeat of Demonic Powers 00:51:52 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that Christ disarmed and triumphed over demonic rulers and authorities, specifically targeting Satan's primary weapon of accusation.
• Roman Triumph Imagery 00:54:36 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the historical analogy of a Roman triumph procession to describe Christ's public display of victory over demonic forces.
• Defeat of Satan 00:56:32 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that Jesus disarmed and shamed Satan, fulfilling the prophecy of Genesis 3:15, leaving Satan as an 'anemic accuser'.
• Call to Salvation 00:59:58 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor issues an urgent invitation for those who have not received forgiveness to come to Jesus and receive it.

• Sermon Illustration 00:23:07 ▶️ 📄
  > A story about a wealthy man in Oklahoma who bought a Cadillac but drove it with two horses hitched to the front, symbolizing believers who possess Christ but look for spiritual add-ons.
• Sermon Illustration 00:27:35 ▶️ 📄
  > A joke about four churches and a synagogue dealing with squirrels, where the synagogue circumcises a squirrel to make it disappear, used to introduce the topic of circumcision.
• Sermon Illustration 00:28:50 ▶️ 📄
  > A joke about a squirrel being circumcised and never seen again, used to introduce the topic of circumcision.
• Sermon Illustration 00:35:03 ▶️ 📄
  > The story of James Calvert, a missionary to the Fiji Islands, who responded to a captain's warning about losing his life by saying, 'we died before we came here,' illustrating the believer's spiritual death to the old life.
• Sermon Illustration 00:35:35 ▶️ 📄
  > A reference to a preacher who said, 'I execute myself every morning with 220 volts,' alluding to Galatians 2:20 and the daily crucifixion of the self.
• Sermon Illustration 00:38:54 ▶️ 📄
  > The story of Albert Speer, Hitler's confidant, who spent 20 years in prison and continued to carry the burden of guilt for his role in the Holocaust, illustrating the unbearable weight of a guilty conscience that cannot be cleared by punishment alone.
• Sermon Illustration 00:42:03 ▶️ 📄
  > An anecdote about an unmarked tombstone in Sydney, New York, with only the word 'forgiven' inscribed on it, used to highlight the significance of forgiveness.
• Sermon Illustration 00:42:03 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts a story of an unmarked tombstone in Sydney, New York, with only the word 'forgiven' inscribed on it, illustrating the simplicity and power of the gospel message.
• Sermon Illustration 00:47:24 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about buying electronic drawing tablets for his grandchildren, using the 'erase' button feature as an analogy for how Jesus cancels out our sins completely.
• Sermon Illustration 00:51:11 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references Albert Speer, noting that despite his efforts at contrition and writing books, he could never achieve a clean conscience, illustrating that forgiveness cannot be earned by works.
• Sermon Illustration 00:54:36 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes the historical context of a Roman triumph, where a general would parade spoils of war and captives through the city, using this to illustrate Christ's public victory over demonic powers.
• Sermon Illustration 00:54:53 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes the historical context of a Roman triumph, where a general would parade spoils of war and captive enemies through the city to make a public spectacle of his victory.
• Sermon Illustration 00:57:27 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts a story of Martin Luther being attacked by Satan in a dream, who presented scrolls of Luther's sins; Luther responded by pointing to the blood of Jesus Christ as the only sufficient defense against accusation.

• Pastoral Charge 00:41:36 ▶️ 📄
  > Pay close attention to the truth that all transgressions have been forgiven.
• Pastoral Charge 00:51:24 ▶️ 📄
  > Admit sin, accept forgiveness through Jesus Christ, and ask God for it.
• Pastoral Charge 00:59:58 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor urges the congregation to cease living under the burden of sin and to actively seek forgiveness from Jesus.
• Pastoral Charge 01:00:10 ▶️ 📄
  > A direct command for individuals to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.

[00:00:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:03] All right, good morning. Welcome to Gathered Worship at Faith Bible Church. Great to see you here this morning. Please continue to make your way in and find a seat. Those of you who are already seated, make sure you help those who are walking in, maybe looking for a couple seats on your row. If you can accommodate them and be gracious, that would be great. If you're a guest with us, so happy that you've joined us. I want to encourage you to do something if you are a guest, which is stop by our Welcome Center. That's the large desk out in the foyer right outside here. Stop by there. We'd love to meet you, get you some information about Faith Bible Church.
[00:00:33] Bible, help you out in any way that we can. But really, you're our honored guest this morning, and we're happy, happy that you've joined us. A couple of announcements that I want to make sure you know about. These are in your bulletin, so hopefully you grabbed a bulletin on your way
[00:00:43] in this morning and get a little bit more information about these things that I'm about to share. First of all, we have an Easter page that's sort of all things Easter season here at Faith Bible Church, gives you information about our upcoming services and so forth.
[00:00:57] Speaking of those services, they are 8, 9.30, 11, and 12.30.
[00:01:03] So for the first time, we're having four services on Easter Sunday here at Faith Bible Church.
[00:01:08] And we'd love to know when you are coming.
[00:01:11] So what service of those four are you going to be attending on Easter Sunday?
[00:01:15] If you go to our Easter page, which the QR code is there on the screen behind me, you can also find it in your bulletin.
[00:01:21] There's a little survey where you can tell us which service your family is coming to.
[00:01:25] it's not a reservation it doesn't lock you in it just gives us an idea as to when you might be attending on Easter Sunday help us it can help us plan a little bit more precisely for that it's
[00:01:36] going to be a busy morning we're looking forward to it it's going to be a great celebration but we'd love to know when you're coming also on that Easter page is our Easter devotional so
[00:01:45] many of you have been participating with that we started that several weeks ago that will continue up until the Easter holiday, so you can avail yourself to that. You can jump in anytime and begin reading these devotionals and walking toward Easter together. Also, next Saturday
[00:02:01] morning, so the day before Palm Sunday, we're having a Seder presentation. It'll take place in this room at 10 o'clock. You don't need to set up a reservation for that. There won't be childcare. It's not a meal, but it will be the presentation of a traditional Passover Seder meal.
[00:02:16] So that's an enriching thing if you've ever participated or been able to observe one of those Uh, you know that it's a rich time So that's next saturday morning at 10 o'clock Uh in this room if you would now stand greet a few people around you then i'll call us to worship. All right
[00:03:04] Remain standing as you make your way back to your chair remain standing Bow your heads with me if you will just quiet your heart for a moment as we prepare for our time of worship
[00:03:29] The psalmist writes in Psalm 41, As for me, I said, O Lord, be gracious to me.
[00:03:35] Heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.
[00:03:40] Fathers, we gather here in your name.
[00:03:42] We can confess, each one of us, that we need your healing hand.
[00:03:48] We can confess that we have sinned.
[00:03:51] We are sinners, each of us.
[00:03:52] And so we look to your grace.
[00:03:54] We celebrate that together in this next hour, that you have been overwhelmingly kind to us.
[00:04:01] you've saved us when we didn't deserve it and you saved it through the sacrifice of your son so we want to exalt his name to get today it's in his name we pray amen well let's begin our

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:04:14] time of worship by declaring the gospel declaring our hope in jesus declaring the father's goodness to us so join your voice with ours let's sing together i believe in the blood of jesus

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:04:31] washes white as snow. I believe that the power of the gospel still makes the broken whole. I believe that the curse of sin was broken when they rolled away that stone. I believe, I believe, I believe.

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:04:52] as I bow before you Lord I will rise in confidence I will see in the land no matter I go and no matter I will see goodness Lord in the land I will start from we fall down on these I believe in the blind they're gonna see
[00:05:38] We need to sing of the precious blood of Jesus this morning.

[00:11:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:11:50] And as we do, would you just consider the truth of this statement, that to fully know the joy of the gospel and what Christ has done for us, we must fully know the depths of our sin.
[00:12:03] So as we've sung already this morning, what can wash away my sin?
[00:12:07] Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
[00:12:09] That song requires a recognition of our sin problem.
[00:12:14] and the fact that only the blood of Jesus can solve that problem for us.
[00:12:21] In Psalm 51, David prays a great prayer of repentance and of acknowledging his sin and confessing it before the Lord.
[00:12:28] And so as I read these verses, let's just take a moment to make this our prayer before the Lord today.
[00:12:36] David says, Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love.
[00:12:42] according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me create in me a clean heart oh God and renew a right spirit within me cast me not away from
[00:13:13] your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me, but restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. God, we praise you that we can know mercy and forgiveness
[00:13:29] in you. We praise you that we can know the joy of your salvation today. Lord, we praise you that as we're about to sing and as we're about to study in your word, that our sin, not in part, but the whole
[00:13:44] is nailed to the cross and we bear it no more.
[00:13:48] And so we as Your people, Lord, say praise the Lord.
[00:13:52] Praise the Lord, O my soul.
[00:13:55] May You be honored by the praises of Your people today, Lord.

[00:15:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:15:01] Let's pray together.

[00:19:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:19:22] Father, what a wonder it is today for sinful people like us that we can have souls that are well with You through Jesus Christ.
[00:19:31] whatever may be facing us today it can be well with our soul because of him Father I thank you that we have an all sufficient relationship with an all sufficient Christ Father we thank you for all the blessings
[00:19:46] that we have Father we don't thank you enough for our daily blessings just for good health physical health Father for mental health for enough food to eat for homes to live in like we have for people who love
[00:19:58] us and care about us Father we're so blessed may we thank you more often than we do for all you've lavished upon us in Christ. Father, I pray for those traveling this week for spring break week. Give safe travel. Pray it'll be a time to get away and
[00:20:15] have a bit of a retreat and refreshment and some renewal and just sharpen the axe. Fathers, you've just sung a minute ago as well. I pray that you'll haste the day when our faith will be sight,
[00:20:27] that Jesus will come back soon to deliver us from the wrath to come. Father, we echo the words of the Apostle John. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Now, Father, as you open your Word together,
[00:20:38] I pray that you'll challenge us and comfort us in your supremacy and your sufficiency and your sovereignty. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Welcome to Faith Bible Church. Great to have you all here today. If you're visiting with us, we're especially glad you're here. We
[00:20:55] pray that your time here with us today will be a great blessing. Most of you may know that my dad went to heaven on March the 6th, and we had his funeral here at church yesterday, and I'm rejoicing
[00:21:08] for him, even in my own sense of loss. My dad died strong in faith. He was ready to go. He was just two months shy of 90, and was able to live there in his house until a week before he passed away.
[00:21:22] He lived a full, faithful life. He was a great father. I wouldn't trade him for any man on earth.
[00:21:28] but I want to thank all of you here for your gracious outpouring of love and support and and kind condolences it's just been that been been overwhelming we appreciate it so much and it's been a great source of comfort and encouragement to me and my family so we thank
[00:21:42] you for that my wife Cheryl and I just got back late Wednesday night in Egypt we were over there for two weeks and saw all kinds of great things I'll be sharing a lot of that with you over the
[00:21:52] months to come I know but it's it's great to be back here great to be back with you all Well, take your Bible and turn with me to Colossians chapter 2 as we continue our study
[00:22:02] of Colossians.
[00:22:03] It's a series we've titled Christ Above All.
[00:22:06] If you'll find chapter 2 and verse 11, I want to begin reading there, chapter 2, verses 11 through 15.
[00:22:14] It says, 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 and the working of God, who raised
[00:22:32] Him from the dead. 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 canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was
[00:22:49] hostile to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed their rulers and authorities. He made a public display of them, having triumphed over
[00:23:01] them through Him. May the Lord write His eternal word on our hearts this morning.
[00:23:07] There was an old story I heard about a man in Oklahoma, and he had oil one day on his small parcel of land that was out in the middle of nowhere. This was a story from many years ago.
[00:23:19] Suddenly, he had more money than Jed Clampett. I mean, this guy could go purchase anything that he wanted, but there's only one luxury he really desired, and that was a Cadillac. So he went to
[00:23:29] the local car dealership and handed the salesman a wad of hundred-dollar bills, and he purchased the largest, most powerful model available. Well, every morning this old man would drive around the town square in his red Cadillac. However, his driving left a lot to be desired. Instead of
[00:23:46] concentrating on the road, he would turn to the left and engage friends on the sidewalk in conversations. He then turned to the right, waved to other friends. Occasionally, he would even stand up in the front seat and greet people behind him. But nobody really felt threatened by the old man's
[00:24:02] driving habits. Instead, people smiled and waved back at him as they observed him in his shiny new red automobile drawn by two horses he had hitched to the front of the Cadillac.
[00:24:14] Well, sadly, a lot of believers are like that man. They don't know what they possess in possessing Christ. And they're constantly looking for things to add to their spiritual life, looking for spiritual add-ons, something that they think is missing, some ritual or some rite or some
[00:24:35] mystical experience, some legalistic practice. But I pray that all of us are beginning to grasp the fact here in the book of Colossians that Jesus is not a supplemental Savior. He's a sufficient Savior. And Christianity is an all-sufficient relationship with an all-sufficient Christ.
[00:24:56] And that's what Colossians 2 is all about. In fact, if you go all the way back to verse 6, kind of a running start, notice it says that we walk in Him, in Him. Look at verse 7,
[00:25:08] being built up in Him. Down in verse 9, for in Him all the dwellness of deity dwells in bodily form. Verse 10, in Him you've been made complete. Verse 11, in Him you were circumcised. Verse 12,
[00:25:22] you're raised up with Him. Down in verse 13, you're alive together with Him. Down at the end of verse 15, He's triumphed over them through Him. I mean, it's just a thread running through this text here that we have everything we need in Him in union with Jesus Christ. So Paul wants us
[00:25:44] to know here this morning that whatever obstacle you face, whatever situation you might be facing right now, whatever challenge, whatever difficulty, you have it all in Jesus Christ. You have access to all that you need in your Christian life. What you need is not out there somewhere,
[00:26:05] something you need to go find. It's all in Him. And if you know Him, He is in you. You have everything that you need in Him. You don't need to go look for something out there. It's all in Him,
[00:26:18] and He's in you if you know Him and trust in Him. Now, in these verses before us this morning, Paul zeroes in on three major components of our sufficiency in Christ. You notice in your
[00:26:31] outline this morning, He circumcised our hearts, He canceled our sins, and He conquered our enemy.
[00:26:38] I mean, it's just the full sufficiency and supremacy and sovereignty of Christ.
[00:26:43] Now, the first thing we see here is that He circumcised our hearts.
[00:26:48] Now, Jay preached the last couple weeks, and he decided to leave this section on circumcision to me, and I appreciate him doing that.
[00:26:56] But you'll notice in verse 11, it starts with a continuation, and in Him.
[00:27:02] So it just continues everything we've seen in verses 6 through 10.
[00:27:07] Again, I've gone through all these statements here, in him, in him, in him.
[00:27:10] So these truths are just kind of lined up like boxcars.
[00:27:15] We've come to the next one here.
[00:27:16] And in him, you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands.
[00:27:24] Now, the subject of circumcision is an indelicate topic, obviously, in church.
[00:27:28] And it's not the easiest thing to talk about.
[00:27:31] So let me add a little levity here this morning to this.
[00:27:33] So here's a story I read.
[00:27:35] I love this.
[00:27:35] It's a great story.
[00:27:36] There were four churches and a synagogue in a small town, a Presbyterian church, a Baptist church, a Methodist church, a Catholic church, and a synagogue.
[00:27:45] Each of them had squirrels, and each church and synagogue had a big problem with squirrels.
[00:27:51] The Presbyterian church called a meeting to decide what to do about their squirrels.
[00:27:55] After much prayer and consideration, they concluded the squirrels were predestined to be there, and they couldn't interfere with God's divine will.
[00:28:03] The Baptist church, the squirrels had taken an interest in the baptistry.
[00:28:07] The deacons met and decided to put a water slide in the baptistry, let the squirrels slide down and drown themselves. But the squirrels liked the slide and unfortunately knew instinctively how to swim, so twice as many squirrels showed up the following week. The Methodist church decided they
[00:28:23] were not in a position to harm any of God's creatures, so they humanely trapped their squirrels and set them free near the Baptist church. Two weeks later, the squirrels were back when the Baptists took down the water slide. But the Catholic church came up with a very creative
[00:28:37] strategy. They baptized all the squirrels and consecrated them as members of the church.
[00:28:43] Now they only see them on Christmas and Easter. But not much was heard from the Jewish synagogue.
[00:28:50] They took the first squirrel and circumcised him. They haven't seen a squirrel since.
[00:28:56] Well, that's one of the only jokes on circumcision, at least one of the only ones you can tell in church. But why does Paul bring up the subject of circumcision here in this passage? Well,
[00:29:08] you remember in the book of Colossians, what we have is what's known as the Colossian heresy, some false teaching that had infiltrated and infected the church there. And this false teaching primarily was Jewish legalism. It was requiring these Colossian believers to go back
[00:29:26] under the law. And of course, part of that would be that these primarily Gentiles in the city of Colossae who'd come to Christ would need to be circumcised if they really wanted to be complete
[00:29:37] in Christ, really wanted to complete their maturity in Jesus. And what I see this as, it's kind of an ancient form of virtue signaling, kind of a pretense or an appearance of a greater righteousness, to be circumcised, to be fully ultimately complete in Jesus Christ. So they
[00:29:57] were adding circumcision to Christ, putting these Colossian believers back under the law, adding to Christ. Now think about this, telling adult men, these Gentiles, okay, you have to come to Jesus and put your faith in Him, and then you have to be circumcised. That would certainly slow
[00:30:15] down evangelism, I think, probably in that day. But Paul has to address this false teaching.
[00:30:21] Now, the word circumcision, the word used here, means literally to cut around.
[00:30:27] And circumcision was the sign of the Abrahamic covenant.
[00:30:32] It was given back in Genesis chapter 17.
[00:30:34] You can read about it there in verses 9 to 12.
[00:30:37] But this sign of the cutting of these young boys at the age of eight days was a picture that the Jewish people had been cut or set apart to God.
[00:30:49] They'd been set apart to God from among the pagan nations around them.
[00:30:53] They were set apart or cut apart to God's purposes.
[00:30:59] So again, on the eighth day, these young Hebrew boys would be circumcised.
[00:31:04] But even when this physical act was taking place back in the Old Testament, there was a recognition that it signified something deeper that needed to happen later in your life.
[00:31:14] It signified something spiritual that needed to take place.
[00:31:19] that you had to be spiritually circumcised.
[00:31:22] So the outward act was to illustrate the need for an inner circumcision of the heart.
[00:31:29] That as you grew older in life, that you had to have your heart cut, that your heart had to be opened up in repentance to come to God.
[00:31:38] That you had to be set apart to God in your heart.
[00:31:41] I mean, this was recognized even in the Old Testament.
[00:31:44] Deuteronomy 30, verse 6 says, moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord. Something deeper was needed. So when a person today trusts Christ, the Holy Spirit
[00:31:59] performs a hard operation on us when we believe. Romans chapter 2 verse 28 and 29 says, a person is not a Jew who's one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is circumcision of the heart
[00:32:19] by the Spirit. So Paul is telling these Colossian believers here that you have already had the true circumcision, the real circumcision, the circumcision of the heart. Because notice he says it's a circumcision made without hands. So it's something done by God Himself in your heart.
[00:32:41] And so he's saying here that when we trust Jesus Christ, our heart is circumcised spiritually.
[00:32:48] And what that means is we're cut off from the old life.
[00:32:52] The old life and what we used to be has come to an end.
[00:32:56] Now, this next phrase here is interpreted a lot of different ways.
[00:33:01] Notice it says, in the removal of the body of the flesh.
[00:33:06] A lot of people take this to mean that in this spiritual circumcision of our heart, the body of our flesh is removed. In other words, the old self, the old person we used to be is
[00:33:19] dealt with. That's true, I believe. But this same idea, the body of the flesh, that same wording is used back in chapter 1 and verse 22 of the fleshly body of Jesus. So what I think it's
[00:33:33] saying here is, is that you and I receive this spiritual circumcision of the heart in the removal of the body of the flesh, that is of Christ's body of flesh, in the circumcision of Christ. In other words, what it's saying here is when Jesus died on the cross, it's picturing
[00:33:52] His death on the cross like a circumcision. And what it's saying there is Jesus was cut off.
[00:33:59] He was cut off from God the Father. He hung there in the darkness, cut off from fellowship with the Father. And so think about the comparison here. Circumcision involves the cutting off of a piece
[00:34:14] of flesh, while Christ's circumcision involved the sacrifice or the cutting away of His entire body.
[00:34:23] So think about that. Christ's death on the cross is pictured as a circumcision. It's a gruesome stripping away. It was a cutting away of His entire body when He died there on the cross.
[00:34:37] And He's saying here that you and I share in His circumcision, that is in His death.
[00:34:43] When He died there on the cross, He was cut away, separated from the Father.
[00:34:49] And that Jesus' death was my death, and it was your death. And because of that, we've died to our former way of life. James Calvert was a missionary. He sailed as a missionary down to
[00:35:03] the cannibals of the Fiji Islands many, many years ago. And as they got near the island, the captain of the ship tried to dissuade him and his friends from going to this island.
[00:35:15] He'd say, you're going to lose your life. You're going to be killed when you go there.
[00:35:20] James Calvert's words are classic. He said, we died before we came here.
[00:35:26] And that's true of us as believers in Jesus Christ.
[00:35:29] We've died spiritually to what we used to be.
[00:35:33] I read about one preacher this week.
[00:35:35] He said, I execute myself every morning with 220 volts.
[00:35:39] He's referring to Galatians 2.20, that verse.
[00:35:43] I've been crucified with Christ.
[00:35:45] Nevertheless, I live.
[00:35:46] Yet not I, but Christ lives in me.
[00:35:48] The life I now live in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God who loved me, gave Himself for me.
[00:35:56] But the point here is Paul is telling these believers, you don't need to be circumcised physically.
[00:36:01] You have the real circumcision through your union with the death of Jesus Christ.
[00:36:06] When He died, you died.
[00:36:09] Now, verse 12, he moves from circumcision to baptism.
[00:36:13] Now, why does he bring up baptism here?
[00:36:15] Well, Paul has just mentioned in verse 11 our identification with Christ in His death.
[00:36:23] When he died, I died.
[00:36:25] There was a co-death that took place.
[00:36:28] But he goes on now to talk about how, in verse 12, we've been buried with him in baptism and raised up with him through faith and the working of God who raised him from the dead.
[00:36:38] So verse 11 is about Christ's death, but it's like Paul saying, you know, let me just remind you that not only were you identified with Jesus in his death, but you were identified with him in his burial and his resurrection.
[00:36:50] and that's what baptism pictures. So whenever a person stands in the waters of baptism, it pictures the old person they used to be. When they go down into the water, it pictures that they died, and they're buried, and they're raised to live a new life.
[00:37:06] So Paul is simply saying here, you've been identified with Jesus in His death, you're identified with Him in His burial, and you're identified with Him in His resurrection.
[00:37:17] Now, Chuck Swindoll puts it like this.
[00:37:19] Being in Christ means we share in what was accomplished through His death.
[00:37:24] By believing, we participate in His death, burial, and resurrection.
[00:37:28] We receive the eternal benefits of His work in a new covenant relationship with God.
[00:37:34] We died to our former way of life when we turned from our sins.
[00:37:39] We rose to a new lifestyle when we pledged to live as disciples of Christ and the new covenant community of the Spirit. These actions were symbolized by baptism.
[00:37:50] Now, notice baptism doesn't save us because he says we're buried with him in baptism, which we are raised up with him through faith in the working of God. That's what saves us, faith in God's work through Jesus Christ. But the main point here that he's making in these
[00:38:09] two verses is, you and I don't need to add anything to Jesus Christ. We have everything we need in Him. When He died, I died. When He was buried, I was buried. When He was raised,
[00:38:21] I was raised to live a new life. There's nothing to add to Him. Now, the second thing we see here is He canceled our sins. He canceled our sins. I think you all probably know this, but there is no
[00:38:36] tyranny like the tyranny of guilt. There's no burden that's heavier than the burden of a guilty conscience. We've all been there. It's unbearable. I was reading this week about Albert Speer.
[00:38:54] Albert Speer was a confidant of Adolf Hitler. He's the only one of the 24 defendants in the Nuremberg trial that actually admitted his guilt. But he spent the rest of his life trying to find
[00:39:07] forgiveness and trying to get rid of the burden of guilt for what happened during World War II.
[00:39:12] He was a technological genius. He kept all the factories of the German war machine humming.
[00:39:19] It's said of him that if he'd have been born in a different time, he would have been one of the world's great industrial giants. But he spent 20 years in the Spandau prison. He wrote a book later.
[00:39:31] He was interviewed on ABC's Good Morning America. But during the interview, the interviewer asked him, he says, you said that the guilt can never be forgiven or shouldn't be. Do you still feel that way? And he says, I served a sentence of 20 years, and I could say I'm a free man. My
[00:39:49] conscience has been cleared by serving the whole time of punishment, but I can't do that. I still carry the burden of what happened to millions of people during Hitler's lifetime. I can't get rid of it. This book is part of my atoning of clearing my conscience. The interviewer pressed the point
[00:40:05] and said, you really don't think you'll be able to clear it totally. The Spirit shook His head and said, I don't think it will be possible. For 35 years, He accepted His responsibility for His
[00:40:16] crime. His writings were filled with contrition and warnings to other people not to follow His terrible path. He desperately sought forgiveness, but it was all to no avail. He carried that burdened with Him all the way to death. And you know, sadly, many believers in Jesus Christ are
[00:40:35] carrying around the burden of their past sins like that. It's like dragging an anchor through life.
[00:40:41] They're unnecessarily weighed down with guilt. They're condemned and plagued by a guilty conscience.
[00:40:47] And it takes a lot of forms. There may be some of you here today that you're plagued by your past from a failed marriage. Maybe the way that you treated one of your children. Maybe a crime you
[00:41:01] committed. Maybe you cheated someone in business. Maybe it's some sexual sin. Maybe it's an affair that destroyed a marriage. Maybe it's an abortion. Maybe it's some addiction that just plagued you in your life that you were unable to shed for a long period of time. Look, I have good news this
[00:41:23] morning for all of us here. I have great news. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are forgiven. That's great news. Don't miss this in this passage here.
[00:41:36] When you were dead in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us. Don't miss that word. All our transgressions, all of them, the past, the present, the future. The big ones, the little ones, the ones you can't remember,
[00:41:55] the ones you can't forget, they've all been forgiven. They've all been canceled.
[00:42:03] I read years ago that there's an unmarked tombstone outside Sydney, New York, has just one word on it, forgiven. The message is simple. There's no date, there's no epitaph, only the name of the person, and then that one solitary word there, forgiven. And that's the
[00:42:19] greatest word that can be applied to any man or woman or written on any gravestone. And you know, here in Colossians, we've seen this in the first, we'll see this in the first three chapters.
[00:42:30] Chapter 1, verse 14, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Then we have chapter 2, verses 13 and 14. Then over in chapter 3, verse 13, bearing with one another, forgiving each other,
[00:42:43] Whoever has to complain against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
[00:42:52] Now you notice here in verse 13, he's dealing here with regeneration, with being born again.
[00:42:57] He says, when you were dead in your transgressions, that's how we're all born into this world, spiritually dead, separated from God.
[00:43:06] You're dead and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him.
[00:43:12] It's God's work.
[00:43:14] God's the one who regenerates us and gives us spiritual life by which we're born again from death to life.
[00:43:22] But notice there can be no spiritual life apart from forgiveness.
[00:43:26] He said He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all of our transgressions.
[00:43:31] You can't have life spiritually without having a forgiveness.
[00:43:36] So to drive this home here, the Apostle Paul gives two vivid pictures or images of God's forgiveness.
[00:43:45] By the way, there are many beautiful pictures of forgiveness in the Bible.
[00:43:50] Some of the most beautiful language in the Bible has to do with our forgiveness.
[00:43:54] Psalm 103.
[00:43:56] As far as the east is from the west, He's removed our iniquities from us.
[00:44:01] Isaiah 38, verse 17.
[00:44:03] You've cast all my sins behind your back.
[00:44:05] Like God threw them behind His back and doesn't look at them anymore.
[00:44:09] Jeremiah 31, 34.
[00:44:11] Their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more.
[00:44:15] You know, one of the big problems in our lives spiritually is we forget the things God tells us to remember.
[00:44:21] We remember the things God tells us to forget.
[00:44:24] He's forgotten our sins.
[00:44:25] He's not going to remember them anymore.
[00:44:27] Micah 7, verse 18 says, He casts all of our sins into the depths of the sea.
[00:44:33] It's beautiful pictures of what God has done with our sins.
[00:44:37] Yet we still carry them around in our lives like a ball and chain.
[00:44:41] But notice these two powerful pictures of forgiveness.
[00:44:44] The first one is canceling a debt.
[00:44:47] Notice verse 14, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us.
[00:44:54] The certificate of debt means a handwritten certificate of indebtedness.
[00:44:59] It's like an IOU or when you sign a promissory note and you promise to pay a debt.
[00:45:06] And it says this debt, this IOU, this promissory note, consists of decrees against us.
[00:45:14] So what that means is you and I, before we come to Christ, we're on the debit side of the ledger.
[00:45:20] We're in the hole.
[00:45:22] We've defaulted.
[00:45:23] We can't pay.
[00:45:24] We owe a debt to God because we've broken God's law.
[00:45:29] And he says that this debt that we owe is against us.
[00:45:33] It's against us.
[00:45:35] It stands against us.
[00:45:36] it offers no hope or encouragement. And then it says it's hostile to us. In other words, our debt hounds us at every turn. It pursues us through an accusing conscience, like a prosecuting attorney. And again, some of you came in here this morning experiencing that. Some past sin
[00:45:57] that's haunting and hounding you in your life, and you just can't shake it. It's a heavy burden.
[00:46:03] it's wearing you down. And he says here that he's canceled it out. He's canceled out that certificate of debt. Now, back in that day, documents were written on papyrus, which was kind of a paper-like material from a bulrush plant, or often on vellum, which was animal's
[00:46:20] hide or an animal's skin. Now, ink in that day didn't have acid in it. So the ink didn't really bite down into the papyrus or down into the animal hide. And so it could be erased from the surface
[00:46:34] are wiped clean. So this valuable papyrus or vellum, this animal skin, could be scraped off or sponged off and it could be used again. And that's the picture here in this text for us. This
[00:46:47] passage says that when God gave us a new life in Christ, He wiped our sins away. Just like a person would wipe off a piece of papyrus or a piece of vellum or wipe off a chalkboard. He wiped us
[00:47:00] clean. The obligations we could never meet, the debt we could never pay, was canceled out.
[00:47:09] He squared our accounts with God. No stain on our soul remains. There's not a trace of it.
[00:47:16] Like someone said years ago, God has a big eraser. Aren't you thankful for that? God has a big eraser.
[00:47:24] You know, I was thinking this week about those little tablets we used to have when I was a little kid. I don't know if they're around anymore. They had a little thin sheet of paper. I don't
[00:47:31] remember that? And you had a little plastic pen. You'd write on it and just pull that sheet up and it would erase what was on there. Well, you got the Etch-A-Sketch, a little more complicated.
[00:47:40] You can write all this stuff on and you shake it and it disappears. But this last week, Cheryl and I got these little tablets for our grandchildren. And it's got a little plastic pen there with it
[00:47:50] and you write on it and it's got a little, some kind of little device you turn on and you just push a button and everything you've written just disappears. I mean, this is the newfangled way of
[00:47:58] just a little sheet you pull up, you know, it's the same idea. But as I saw them playing with that this week, and they'd ride and draw pictures, whatever, and they just pushed the button and it
[00:48:07] disappeared. It's a picture of what Jesus has done for us when He died on the cross in our place.
[00:48:12] He just pushed the button. It was all gone through His death and His resurrection. He canceled out the certificate of death. But the second picture is even more powerful, I think.
[00:48:23] it says, having nailed it to the cross, the end of verse 14. Now Paul's mind here goes back to Calvary. This is an allusion to what was called a titulus, the Roman titulus. That was a tablet
[00:48:37] or a piece of wood that was fixed over a crucified person's head on which their crimes were inscribed.
[00:48:45] So when a person was crucified, they had this piece of wood that was placed, that was nailed above their head that the crimes which they're being crucified now obviously that was meant to be a deterrent to anybody else who'd want to commit that same crime remember that remember
[00:49:00] the titulus above jesus head remember what it said the king of the jews or the pharisees came in and said you know you need to say he said he was the king of the jews pilot said no i've written
[00:49:11] what i've written but paul here sees a different indictment there on the placard above the head of Christ. He sees that when Jesus died there on the cross, he sees on that titulus above the head of
[00:49:24] Jesus an IOU for all of our sins. Because obviously when Jesus died there, he had no sins of his own.
[00:49:33] So Paul sees all of our sins, as it were, on that titulus there nailed to the cross there above the head of the Lord Jesus. What a picture that is. J.B. Phillips, in his translation,
[00:49:47] says it really, really beautifully.
[00:49:49] He says, this is verse 14, he says, He's forgiven you all your sins.
[00:49:55] Christ has utterly wiped out the damning evidence of broken laws and commandments which hung always over our heads and has completely annulled it by nailing it over His head on the cross.
[00:50:09] Notice the contrast there.
[00:50:10] It hung over our head.
[00:50:12] Our sins hang over us.
[00:50:14] He says, God completely annulled it by nailing it over His head on the cross.
[00:50:20] He's taken it out of the way.
[00:50:22] He's nailed it to the cross.
[00:50:24] I mean, just like that verse we sang this morning, it is well with my soul.
[00:50:29] My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought.
[00:50:32] My sin, not in part, but the whole.
[00:50:35] Nailed to the cross.
[00:50:37] I bear it no more.
[00:50:38] Praise the Lord.
[00:50:40] Praise the Lord, oh my soul.
[00:50:42] There's nothing better than that.
[00:50:44] Our sins were nailed to the cross with Christ and then went into His tomb to be buried there forever.
[00:50:52] That's good news.
[00:50:53] That's great news for every one of us here this morning.
[00:50:57] And I pray that you've received that forgiveness through Jesus Christ.
[00:51:01] You know, the good news of the gospel is forgiveness is not something we work for.
[00:51:06] It's something we ask for.
[00:51:08] You'll never work your way into forgiveness.
[00:51:11] Albert Speer did everything he could, and writing books, and contrition, and admitting his guilt, and could never get a clean conscience.
[00:51:19] It's not something you work for. You simply ask for it. It's yours for the asking today. It's a prayer away. As you go to God, you admit that you're a sinner. You accept the forgiveness that
[00:51:31] God will offer you through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You ask for it, and God will give it to you today. You can walk out of here today clean, with a clean conscience.
[00:51:42] So the point here is, though, there's nothing to add to Jesus.
[00:51:45] He circumcised our heart.
[00:51:47] He canceled our sins.
[00:51:48] But then notice here, this final verse, He crushed the enemy.
[00:51:52] He conquered the enemy.
[00:51:53] So really, in circumcising the heart, He dealt with self.
[00:51:57] He dealt with the old person we used to be.
[00:52:00] We're a new person in Christ.
[00:52:02] In canceling our sins, He dealt with our sin problem.
[00:52:05] And now He deals with Satan.
[00:52:08] Notice it says in verse 15, when He disarmed the rulers and authorities.
[00:52:13] Rulers and authorities are classifications or a part of the hierarchy in the angelic realm.
[00:52:19] See the same thing back at the end of verse 10.
[00:52:22] He's the head over all rule and authority.
[00:52:25] Now this could refer either to good angels that are unfallen angels or to fallen angels or demons.
[00:52:33] Here, I think it has to refer to bad angels, to fallen angels or demons, because notice He disarmed them, and He made public display of them, and He triumphed over them.
[00:52:43] Jesus wouldn't do that with unfallen angels.
[00:52:46] So these are fallen angels or demonic powers or spirits.
[00:52:51] We see the same thing over in Ephesians chapter 6, that passage on spiritual warfare that we war against angels and principalities and powers and spiritual forces of darkness.
[00:53:06] She's talking here about demons. Now, why focus on demons here? Why focus on the fact that Christ has disarmed and displayed and defeated these demonic forces? Well, what is one of Satan's primary weapons against us? What is one of the primary weapons we see in Scripture that Satan
[00:53:27] uses against believers? It's accusation. It's condemnation. It's accusing us of our sins, of reminding us of the things that we've done to drag us down spiritually, to keep us discouraged and defeated. In fact, the word devil in the Bible means accuser or slanderer. So one of the names of
[00:53:49] Satan is he accuses us. Revelation 12, Satan is called the accuser of the brethren. So since all of our sins have been forgiven, that's what verses 13 and 14 are about, I think the reason he mentions
[00:54:03] Satan and the demons here is he's saying that Satan is defeated in his demonic host, and so they can no longer accuse us of sin. The record of our debt has been canceled, so no legitimate
[00:54:16] an accusation can be made against us. Now, he pictures here the Roman triumph. He says he triumphed over them. Christ triumphed over these demonic spirits, or God triumphed over them through Jesus Christ. That word triumph there pictures the defeat of Satan and his demonic host
[00:54:36] with the familiar picture of what's called a Roman triumph. Back in ancient Rome, when a Roman general went out and conquered enough territory and took enough spoil, when he got back to Rome, they gave him what was called a Roman triumph or procession. If you've ever been to Rome and seen
[00:54:53] the Arch of Titus, the Arch of Titus there has inscribed on it the triumph of Titus, the Roman general, when he came back from destroying Jerusalem in 70 AD, all the spoils he brought with him. There were about 300 of these Roman triumphs in Roman history. It was like a great
[00:55:12] victory parade. This Roman general would come into the city, and it's kind of like when a team wins the Super Bowl or the World Series, and their city gives them this great parade. What would
[00:55:25] happen in that Roman triumph is that people line the streets, and all the spoils of war would be laid out there. The idols, the silver, the gold, but also all the people taken captive. They'd all
[00:55:38] be bound there. And behind them would be this general riding in his chariot. So he's riding in his chariot, driving with all the spoils of war ahead of him. And he would make a public spectacle
[00:55:51] of these people that he'd conquered. They'd be taken down to the Colosseum. Usually the leaders of the people he'd conquered would be killed. The other people would be sold into slavery.
[00:56:02] And then behind this general would be all of the soldiers that were part of his army and part of this great victory. But the picture here is they would drag these prisoners or take them through
[00:56:13] the street and make a public spectacle of them. And it's saying that's what Jesus did when he died on the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities. He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through him so christ disarming displaying and defeating of satan
[00:56:32] is something that fulfilled the prophecy all the way back in genesis 3 15 all the way back in the garden of eden when man sinned god gave a curse to the to satan and he said to him that someday
[00:56:44] one's going to arise from the seat of the woman and you're going to bruise his heel but he's going to crush your head and that was achieved at the cross when jesus died so it's telling us here that
[00:56:54] Satan is disarmed, he's disgraced, he's defeated. He's been stripped and shamed and subdued.
[00:57:01] So Satan's power to accuse us of sins has been diffused and the serpent has been defanged.
[00:57:09] So he's an anemic accuser. That's the point here in this passage. He's been disarmed of his ability to legitimately accuse us as God's people. You know, Martin Luther, the great reformer, he had his battles with Satan. I mean, think about Martin Luther. I mean,
[00:57:27] he was probably the number one target of Satan on the earth during his life, with all that he was doing to tear down so much false religion that was in the world of that day. But there's a story
[00:57:39] that in a dream, Martin Luther found himself being attacked by Satan. The devil unrolled a long scroll containing a list of Martin Luther's sins, and he held it up before him. And when he reached
[00:57:51] the end of the scroll, Luther asked the devil, is that all? And the devil said no, and a second scroll was thrust in front of him. And then after that came a third, but now the devil had no more.
[00:58:04] And Martin Luther exclaimed triumphantly, you've forgotten something. Quickly ride on each of them.
[00:58:09] The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. And then Luther said this, when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, Tell him this, I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it? For I know one who suffered
[00:58:29] and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Look, the enemy's going to come and accuse you, bring thoughts into your mind, to bring condemnation, to drag you down,
[00:58:43] to discourage you in life. But no charge against you and no charge against me will ever stick.
[00:58:50] It'll never stick. It's all because of Jesus. With Jesus, there's nothing to add. He circumcised our hearts. He canceled our sins. He crushed our enemy when it comes to accusing us. He's dealt with self. He's dealt with sin. He's dealt with Satan. We have an all-sufficient relationship
[00:59:10] with an all-sufficient Christ. There's nothing to add. Don't go around pulling your Cadillac with horses. Receive the sufficiency that we have in Jesus Christ. Whatever you face in life, whatever struggle you're facing today, whatever difficulty, whatever problem, realize that the
[00:59:31] answer to those problems you have is not out there somewhere. It's in here because we're in Him. We have everything that we need in Him. May God help us to recognize that and to encourage one another
[00:59:42] in that. Let's pray together. If you're here today and you've never received this forgiveness we've talked about. Receive it today. Oh, don't go around burdened anymore and shackled to sin.
[00:59:58] Come to Jesus today and ask Him for forgiveness. He'll give it to you. You can walk out here today free, that burden lifted from your life with a wonderful sense of weightlessness.
[01:00:10] The burden's been taken away. Receive Jesus Christ as your Savior. Father, for those of us who know You, I pray, Father, You'll give us an incredible sense of sufficiency in You. Oh, Father, we're totally insufficient in ourselves. We have nothing, but we have everything we need in Jesus
[01:00:30] Christ. Father, help us to possess our possessions in Him. We commit ourselves to You, Father, and all the problems that we face, but we find triumph in Jesus Christ. We ask these things in His
[01:00:43] precious name. Amen. Well, if you'll stand for the benediction. Thank you for being here with us today. If you're visiting, we're especially glad you're here again. You can go through these doors, a welcome center a little ways down on the right. Some folks I'd love to greet you and give you some
[01:00:59] information about our church. I'll be down front after the service. Our elders and pastors who are present will be down front with me. We'd love to talk with you. Maybe you received that forgiveness from Christ this morning. We'd love to hear about that. Maybe you've been languishing under some
[01:01:13] burden in your life. We'd love to have the opportunity to pray with you. Let's bow for the benediction. Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. All God's people said, amen. Amen. God bless you.