In this sermon, Pastor Joe Babij examines Colossians 2:13-15 and Paul’s explanation of Christ’s salvation work made personal to believers so that they need no supplement to or substitute for Christ. Specifically, Paul presents three wondrous aspects of Christ’s salvific work:
1. Christ’s complete forgiveness of all our sins (v. 13b)
2. Christ’s complete obliteration of our I.O.U. (v. 14)
3. Christ’s complete conquest of our enemy (v. 15)
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okay this this morning we’re taking our Bibles and we’re looking at Colossians chapter 2.
but I also like to have your put your finger in Revelation Chapter 20 The Passage that was read this morning we’re going to be looking at a little bit but as you’re turning there let’s let me pray Lord this morning we do want to rejoice in Our Redeemer we do want to lift your name up Lord especially Lord because of what you accomplished on our behalf Lord we could have never done what you have done and so Lord we come this morning with thankful hearts with grateful hearts with hearts that are humbled knowing Lord that we would have never deserved what you’ve given us it’s all your mercy and your compassion and your grace to us I pray those very things would be something we think about all the time that would even you be used to transform us as your people into the people you want us to be so this morning Lord we we lift up your name open your word to us today and bless us with it in Christ’s name I pray amen so we’re looking at Colossians chapter 2 we’re going to be looking at verse 13 the middle of verse number 13 to verse 15 but before I get there since the day sin entered into the world everyone descended from Adam has been born sinful including you and me and sin has caused the problem it causes guilt it causes crooked twist in the fabric of human existence and man has taken what the creator has given to us as good and twisted it into something evil and dilemma of uncertainty still exists about this subject of sin and the human race has always dealt with sin and Evil inadequately sin and Evils are evident in all social classes at all intellectual levels and in every place humans call home historically it has been proven that in the past that all approaches do not deal correctly with evil and sin nor properly explain man’s predicament for example if sin and evil are just a matter of ignorance people would say well let’s just educate them or if it’s just an unwholesome environment let’s just change the environment or if only uh they need a role model that’s supplied to them role models but that’s not the solution Theologian James Packard said something very significant concerning how one looks at sin he said sin is not a social concept it is a theological concept and what he meant is sin is not something that happens to us because of our surroundings and social settings it is something we are all humans are born born Sinners and will sin no matter what surroundings or social settings they find themselves so when human sin when humans sin they are missing the mark of God’s righteous standard and at the same time of course they are hitting something else namely unrighteousness that’s why the Old Testament and the New Testament words include the idea of rebellion and wickedness and selfishness and Disobedience and lawlessness when referring to the sin of man sin is a violation of a set standard and a violation against the one who set the standard and you and me have drastically fallen short of that standard every time all the time and it’s not that all humans are as bad as they could be but that all humans have the potential for the worst of sin so consequently our sin dominated life put ourselves up against God man has a sinful nature a bad heart because of Adam’s sin and he passed that down to us and so we now have a bad record because we will commit our own acts of sin in fact in the Old Testament humans being sinful and sinning so often there was actually a sacrifice that was to be offered by a person who didn’t realize they sinned initially but realized it sometime in the future see it was a sacrifice made by someone who sometimes later realized they sinned unintentionally in fact it says in Leviticus chapter 4 verse 2 speak to the sons of Israel saying if a person sins unintentionally in any of these things which the Lord has commanded not to be done and commits any sin what were they supposed to do to worshiper was to bring his animal to the entrance of the tent of meaning the worshiper were to lay their hands on the head of the animal and then the worshiper stated at that point why they brought the sacrifice in other words what sin they committed and then the worshiper would kill it and then the priest would make atonement for him so how many unintentional sins do we have in our life or sins that we just simply forgot we did is God going to overlook those does it ever get into his diary so we commonly have a wrong idea of sin and we would readily agree that a robber or a murderer or a gangster or an adulterer or a drugger or a drunkard to name a few are sinners but since most of us are respectable citizens in our heart of hearts we think that sin has not much very much to do with us generally we do not take sin as seriously as we should and yet sin is what separates us from God it will keep us from his holy presence and if not forgiven and removed by God himself it will send us to the Lake of Fire now with that in mind let’s look quickly at Revelation chapter 20 because it gives us a vivid picture of God’s evaluation and judgment on sin and sinners and you and me are not very good record Keepers when it comes to our sins of words of thoughts of deeds and actions but there is someone who does impeccable record-keeping and who may that be that may be our Lord God himself that all people will be judged according to the perfect record of God’s and of course in this passage of scripture there’s two record books mentioned Divine records of people’s life history will be available for inspection and this means that the record of each human being has been kept in God’s books if you notice invert number 12 verse number 12.
it says and I saw the dead and the Great and the small standing Before the Throne and books were open and another book was opened which is The Book of Life and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the in the books according to their deeds and the Sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them and they were judged every one of them according to their deeds so two kinds of books the first book is the book of man’s works This Record Book of the Deeds of people who have died in their sins they did not die in Christ they died in their sins it’s a record of the people’s Deeds there that God has kept memories forgotten violations of the conscience syn acts motives character thoughts and words and scripture makes consistent reference to a register of human actions like we see in Psalm 56 it says you have taken account of my wanderings and then in Psalm 56 it says record my lament list my tears on your scroll are they not in your record and then Matthew 12 37 says by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned so in Revelation 20 verse number 12 God will reach back into a person’s life to retrieve buried memories have forgotten desires and will bring these to inaccurate and utterly faithful assessment at the bar of divine Justice The Works of people are all written down secret sins are brought to judgment and God knows your secret sins he’s not blind to them all of them are recorded and will one day be read openly your skeletons will come out of your closets also uncommitted sins sins never got to be committed but they were thought of so there will be sins of the heart that will be brought to judgment that God knows what is perfectly in the heart and according to ricken written evidence therefore the sentence upon each rests upon written evidence it has been said that every person who goes to the Lake of Fire makes his own way and pays their own ticket they are only receiving the proper wages of getting what is their due for the wages of sin is death you get paid for sin now I’ll come back to the second book at the end but now why did I actually look at this passage in Revelation turn back to Colossians why did I look at this because in this next passage in Colossians highlights are given of aspects of Christ’s salvific work on our behalf which is quite personal to us to each one of us and the reason why is because sin is personal it belongs to us it’s connected to us and it is recorded in God’s books now what do I mean well we all have a large debt and the large debt has accumulated because of our many many many sins sins remembered sins ignored sins forgotten and sin will cost people more than they want or are able to pay the entire human race has sold out to the devil in spiritual bankruptcy and we have nothing to pay except in eternity in the Lake of Fire now I don’t know about you but that’s a dismal report isn’t it if I said amen and we all went home it won’t be going so well this week but thank the Lord that’s not his wit in our passage this morning and our passage this morning is actually The Wonder of God that our minds can bask in this week three aspects of Christ’s salvific work and the first aspect is this which I’ll just mention briefly is Christ’s complete forgiveness of all our sins now I want to just say that of all our sins past present and even sins that we are yet to commit notice what it says in Colossians chapter 2 verse number 13.
it says when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh he made you alive together with him having forgotten uh forgiven us all our transgressions now back in chapter 1 and verse number 14 it tells us there and that most of the brethren trusting in the Lord excuse me that’s not it verse 14 it says in whom we have Redemption the forgiveness of sin so this theme of forgiveness has been an important one theologically and for the Christian because redemption and forgiveness go hand in hand and the word translated forgiveness really does mean to send away or to cancel a dead that the heavenly father through Christ not only set us free and transferred us into a new kingdom but he also canceled every sin dead so that we cannot be enslaved by them again Satan can’t make any indictments against us anymore and so the next couple of passages actually fleshed this out it fleshes out what forgiveness really is so you and me once walked around in the condition of deadness because we were without Christ and ultimately dead means to be ignorant of God that people don’t know God that’s why they’re dead the Gospel of John chapter 17 verse 3 says this is eternal life that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ who you have sent so not to know God is actually death it was Martin Lloyd Jones who says life that is non-Christian is living death so several words are are used to show our deadness the word transgression is used and the word sin and Paul speaks of sin as a power that holds Humanity under its way and leads them unto death but this word transgression or trespass means to slip or fall and if anybody ever read and if you didn’t you should the message by Jonathan Edwards an old message called sinners in the hands of an Angry God his text that he used in that message was Deuteronomy 32 verse 35 and this is what it says because the theme is about slipping it says in Deuteronomy Vengeance his mind and retribution in due time their foot will slip for the day of their Calamity is near and the impending things are hastening upon them you and me can’t walk through this world without slipping and that means sinning transgressing against God and that’s what we kept doing and we’re going to keep doing it less now because we’re Christians so we keep falling away from the true in the right path and then of course in our passage it says the uncircumcision of your flesh now that from last time means that a sinner is still in their sin without Christ and sin again is from the word hamartia which means to uh it’s a shooting word and it’s an archery word and it literally means to miss a person shoots an arrow at the Target and the arrow misses they never get it into the bullseye that sin is a failure to hit the target of God’s standard of righteousness and who has it that targets perfectly no one not you not me only Christ has perfectly met the standard of God’s righteousness so yes if you know Christ as Lord and savior he has forgiven you completely all everyone of your sins secondly the second wonder tabaskin is that Christ completely obliterates your IOU now look at Colossians chapter 2 verse 14 it says having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of degrees against us which was Hospital hostile to us and he has taken it out of the way nailing it to the Cross now this passage of scripture is looted with good stuff and an IOU is a document that acknowledges the existence of a debt an IOU is often viewed as an informal written agreement rather than a legal binding commitment and an IOU is always signed by the debtor a correct one now let’s just say you and I met at a diner a New Jersey diner which I know you’d like to eat at it I do too that’s why I don’t like going to other states they have no diners where’s the diners I like diners I do we met at a diner and I went there for a purpose of borrowing money from you so I took a napkin and I wrote on it the amount that I owed you would owe you and signed it now that can be a legitimate IOU so if I if I invite you to a diner maybe that’s what’s going to happen but I’m not going to do that I’m not going to do that so saying that is that the sense is that I am a slave to you until the debt is paid in full however the certificate of debt in our passage of scripture in our text is a legally binding dead and the reason why is because it’s connected to the law of God it’s the Apostle Paul who uses this term consisting of degrees which are legal demands degrees are legal demands in other words a commandment or to obey a regulation that is posted he uses this noun in one other place and he refers it to the Mosaic law now in verse number 14 of chapter 2 notice it says degrees are against us it’s hostile to us now that doesn’t sound very good but it is what happens when we break God’s law the record of charges for breaking God’s law is put up against us as hostile toward us and the good function of the law rightly reveals our just condemnation before God the handwriting and I’m stressing the handwriting that is against us is the dead of sin that serves to convict us before God so we have an IOU that we owe to God every sin we ever committed has to be paid for now concerning sin people are at different places you and I have probably fall into one of these categories some are out and out in sin meaning that they’re sold completely to the devil whatever Vice that enslaved them they were happily to give themselves to it others are up and out for they are self-righteous and they think they are fine and they have no need of someone to save them they have no need of a savior some are in and out that means in and out in churches but outside of Christ hoping that their religion and good works will ensure that they will be all right with God and still others are Downing up meaning that they have turned over a new Leaf in their life they have joined a Recovery Group and believe in a higher power and feel that they are doing better than they ever have yet they are still without Christ still under the condemnation of all their sins of commission and omission and maybe they even say now I’m reformed not reformed Theologian reformed in their in their sin but they still have an IOU unpaid they have a legal demand to pay that is against them also to say I will reform will not remove the debt for the debtored for no debtor heirs to tell his creditor um Hey listen forget about that forget the dead I’ll do better in the future no a dead gives the correct their power over the debtor just like Proverbs tells us and informs us the rich rules over the poor and the bow the bow Road becomes the lender’s slave but thanks be to God the law of God also functions to do something else not to just to show us where sinner It prepares us for the good news of the Cross and points us to the Savior Jesus Christ and that is why he is the only way to God because I want you to notice in our texts how Jesus obliterates our IOU which we could have never paid we could have never paid it and what’s the first thing we see in verse number 14 it says does the first thing is that Jesus canceled out our certificate of debt it says having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of degrees against us which was hostile to us see this word here canceled out is is the word that means to wipe away a written record or to erase it the word basically meant to expunge something by erasing or scraping off or washing it with water so in ancient times scribes would use wax writing tablets to record debts owed and when the debt was paid in full The Writing Tablet was smooth out and the record of course was blotted out forever you paid the debt I don’t see anything you don’t know anything now if you want to take your Bibles I recommend you do there’s a few passages in Isaiah that this concept this principle has always been in the fabric of God’s people Isaiah chapter 44 verse 43 Verse number 25 but I want you to notice the subject of these verses is God himself it says in Isaiah 43 Verse 25 it says I even I am the one who what wipes out your transgressions and why does he do it for my own namesake he does it and then it says and I will remember will not remember your sins isn’t that a good thing that God not remember your sins that means it was smoothed out you don’t see anything anymore because of what he has done and then over to Isaiah 44 verse 22 kind of thing there it says I have wiped out your transgressions how like a thick cloud and your sins like a heavy Mist return to me why redeemed you in other words as God removes the cloudiness and the inability to see something and moves it away we realize you realize the person realized that God is the one who wipes away sin he’s the one who could take care of it and then of course the same kind of thought when you come to the New Testament Acts chapter 3 and verse 9 number 19 of course remember acts being that historical book The Gospels coming to people and people are getting saved and what does he say to the Jews who understand and have heard this passage before what does he say to them when they realize that Jesus Christ died on the cross and they’re the ones who nailed them there look what it says in Acts chapter 3 verse number 19 it says therefore repent and return why so that your sins may be wiped away in order that times of refreshing May Come from the presence and it goes on in the passage from his presence so so in other words Jesus cancels he wipes out sin debts the record of your sin has been smooth out for those who know Christ thank you what I owe God has been paid in full so if you’re still unconvinced about What the Lord Has Done look back at Colossians chapter 1 verse 14 because it’s loaded with the second thing is that Jesus not only canceled out the certificate of our dead but also he removed the written record against us against the the emphasis being on that which the Lord has done he removes it and notice what it says and he has taken it out of the way that’s what it should say in your your Bible actually the term used in the phrase out of the way is actually the word the phrase out of The Middle that’s the accurate way that’s from the Greek in other words the certificate of dead dead that stood in the middle between us and God this barrier has been taken out of the way Jesus set it aside and he scripture uses a perfect tense and tells us that the action completed in the past has a subtle condition now in the present that this written record that stood against us that was hostile to us that came between you and God you and God Jesus removed that so those in Christ right now presently right now the record of your sins have been canceled and removed and this further means that the record of our failures against the law of God is erased wiped clean so that no evidence of its previous existence can be tracked down in order to be brought up against us for condemnation it’s not there anymore so you and me now are in a state of not being condemned we are in a state of being made clean and we are being we are in a state now of having the righteousness of Christ on our account our Clean Slate that’s been wiped clean and and everything that there the written documented against us that it was hostile to us has now been settled the IOU is paid for and what does God the Father see he sees the righteousness of Christ on our account now you say well okay how does he do it look back at verse number 14 of chapter 2 because we see clearly the means by which Jesus accomplished such a wonderful act on behalf of his children it says this having nailed it to the cross see the third thing is that Jesus nailed it to the cross for us he canceled our debt and certificate of dead cancer that removed the written record against us and now he how did he do that he nailed it to the Cross he nailed it forever to the cross that the cross of Calvary in which he won the victory that all the failure of keeping the law of Moses was taken away from the Old Testament Godly by the death of Christ on the cross even all the sin in the New Testament Saints is also nailed to the cross that Jesus Paid our dead the nails that pierced his hands and feet and fastened him fastened him to the Cross were the nails thereby God also used to nail our sins and your sins and my sins to that cross so we Christians are set free from the debt of sin that really serve to convict us before God it’s no longer there it’s gone so when sinners are acted upon by the power of God and see that they are lost and under God’s Wrath and in trouble with God only then well they see their need of the Cross and only then will they desire to receive Jesus as their own Lord and savior they will no longer settle on their own righteousness but another’s righteousness that is the righteousness that comes to them from the perfect Son of God Jesus Christ that the penalty for our sins were accounted to him and Christ’s perfect righteousness was credited to us so that we become as it says in Corinthians the righteousness of God in him so our victory over sin over evil over evil spirits and death come from Jesus who suffered Injustice for our salvation that Jesus satisfied the Justice of the father and was Vindicated by his resurrection in that the father accepted that offering that Jesus gave for sin for the unjust the just for the unjust and that means that we are Vindicated by God and we are on the victory side of things that means therefore when a Christian is being persecuted for their faith in Christ alone or for their Obedience of doing what is right or for their refusal to participate in the sins of others and Society we can find comfort and contentment in the middle of our troubled Byer reflecting thoughtfully on the ultimate Vindication and victory that we have in the finished final complete work of Christ that Jesus sacrifice was so perfect so final so sufficient that it gave to all who believe a permanent justification and a continuous position before God that will be enjoyed now and forever but remember the context of Colossians and what is that there’s an enemy against us and the enemy uses false teaching and false teachers that desire to confuse Christians on this very point and get them to think that somehow the Cross of Christ was not enough it was not sufficient and that there are things that we need to do in order to help God save us and to help God keep us saved and that’s why this is what it says next in Colossians which I’m not going to cover this morning but I do want to read it look at Colossians chapter 2 verse 20.
because it exposes Satan’s tactics notice what it says in verse 20 if you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world why as if you were living in the world do you submit to yourself to degrees there’s that word decrees all right that’s Satan’s decrees such as do not handle do not taste do not touch verse 22 which all refer to things destined to perish with their use in accordance with the Commandments and teachings of men these are matters which have to be sure and appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body but they are of no value against fleshly indulgences that’s how Satan works he convinces you it’s not enough the cross that Jesus didn’t pay it all for you that you should go on doubting whether you’re really saved that’s what he does and when he does he tries to enslave you again he tries to bring you in the Bible is saying to the Colossians and to us don’t let them do that why because of what I just told you about Jesus that his salvation to us is so complete there’s nothing to see anymore on your account it’s clean it’s washed away it’s wiped away it’s smoothed out it’s clean don’t let him re-populate that tablet now you say well what has Christ done for us concerning this enemy well look back at Colossians chapter 2 verse 15. here’s the third thing that Christ’s complete conquest of our enemy that’s what he did he defeated him completely that Satan’s dark domain is mentioned from the standpoint of the Victor Jesus Christ who stripped him of the victory at the resurrection look at verse 15 when he had disarmed the rulers and authorities you know what a disarmed ruler is a disarmed ruler is a defeated ruler in the Garden of Eden God promised that the devil would bruise the savior’s heel and this he did when Jesus died but prophecy also tells us that the Savior would bruise the enemy’s head and this is what Christ accomplished when he rose from the grave and Satan realized he lost and because of the Resurrection it declared that Jesus Is the Victor and proved he is God that Satan at that point lost everything and then notice in verse 15 of chapter 2 of Colossians he made a public display of them having triumphed over them through him that Jesus made a public triumph over the forces of evil and stripped the devil of his power Over The Souls of the Saints so that there is no need for us to be defeated in sin or by sin is no longer able to threaten those who believe in Christ he has nothing to say he’s been shut up by God he’s been shut out by God and he’s just under God’s condemnation now and the Bible says he has a short time before the end comes for him so in other words you are no longer his possession he has no right to you at all Christ has all rights to you you are his possession and protected by him and have eternal security because of him so just as conquerors in olden times were chained he would take the prisoners and change them to the Chariot and The Chariot was made to go through the streets and the person who lost the battle would run alongside in public humiliation so Christ doomed the devil to the Lake of Fire where he will be in the lowest Department under God’s Wrath forever so I said I would come back to the second book at the great white Throne judgment in Revelation 20.
and so you see those who trust Christ alone for Eternal salvation they escape the wages of sin they get instead the gift of eternal life remember the ways of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ Our Lord the other book that will be opened in the judgment is The Book of Life and this is the final humiliation in the final condemnation the final blow for every sinner at that terrible judgment before Jesus on the great white throne and what is the purpose of this book the second book is that God’s final answer to every plea of a sinner that when the Book of Life is closed then the mercy of God is gone forever concerning those being judged and if you notice in Revelation 20 and verse number 12 the middle of the verse it says this it says another book was opened which is The Book of Life now this book of life is not a record of the Deeds of people The Book of Life is the record of the names of people see The Book of Life only comes into discussion only to show that the names of these dead are not written there it contains the names of all who have true spiritual life it contains the names it is a book actually that uniquely belongs to the Lamb of God and is related to his death as it says in Revelation 13 8 it says all who dwell on the earth will worship Him everyone whose name has not been written in the from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the land who has been slain and then also your name must be written in this book in order for you to enter the Heavenly City Revelation 21 verse 27 and nothing unclean and no one who practice Abomination and lying shall ever come into it but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life see in in the ancient world it was built really on the role of citizens you couldn’t come into the city unless your name was on the roll if your name wasn’t on the roll you would come in possibly as a visitor and they would have to leave again so in other words those are written in it are citizens of Heaven God’s special people so Rejoice today in The Wonder of what God has done because your name is on the right role because you are joyfully assured of your salvation like it says in Luke nevertheless don’t Rejoice of this that the spirits are subject to you but Rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven and why are they recorded there because you have no IOU because Jesus made it smooth and wiped out your dead and removed it out of the way so now you have access to God and he did that by nailing it to a cross which he who will never have to do again because it was an eternal sacrifice done once for all it says in Hebrews never again sins forgiven your name written down in heaven wow what a thought that is a possessor of eternal life a partaker of the divine nature born of God passed out of condemnation into everlasting life what a blessed state to be saved to be delivered from the wrath of God and I pray your salvation would never be commonplace but every time you think of how God saved you you would experience fullness of joy so let your mind this week ask on that on these truths let them come to your mind often because I tell you what Satan’s not done with you in the sense of tempting you and distracting you and trying to delude you trying to get you to sin again like you once did and bring old people into your life that you thought were forever gone now they’re there and they’re there with the same vices they haven’t changed one bit they’re not saved they won’t listen to your message of salvation but they want to drag you down see he has got all kinds of employees to drag us down but you cannot listen to them you know why you know the truth you have Colossians to go back to to say this is what my Lord has done in my behalf he’s accomplished it for me go talk to him and of course he doesn’t want to talk to him so I pray this week take these truths think about them and let them encourage your heart let’s pray today Lord thank you this morning for the goodness of your word the clarity of the word of God thank you Lord that we know in the word of God what you have done and I pray Lord that we would listen to nobody else that no one can convince us otherwise and Lord that we cannot be tempted to think that somehow your sacrifice on the cross was not complete that something has to be added to it and include it with it I pray Lord that we this week would think about would meditate upon these truths that Lord you have completely forgiven us you have completely removed the written debt against us you have completely destroyed our enemies and we know Lord your plan is not done yet concerning him but Lord I pray as we live each day you would allow us to walk in the victory of knowing Christ as our Lord and savior and I pray this this in Christ’s name amen let’s Stand Together