Law & Grace - Colossians 2:8-15 Together with Him
Colossians 2:8-15 · Vern Peterman · Aug 12, 2012
Law & Grace, No. 77
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492632436347

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. Now, a lot of people are, of course, camping. And I'm quite certain they're having a great time, no doubt. But nonetheless, we're going to be taking a little bit of a detour here because we don't want them to miss out on the next section. So we're going to move from the Romans 6 passage we were studying and resume that next week and address the passage that Courtney just read for us here in Colossians 2 verses 13 through 15. This passage answers some really key questions, some important ones, and the other thing that I really like about this passage is the Apostle Paul is very graphic in what he portrays there, a very good picturing of the truths. Some of the key questions, what real difference does it make whether I'm a believer or not?

He tells us here, here is a huge difference that it makes. What does it mean for me to have forgiveness of sins? What does that mean? And how total is that? Is that forgiveness, you know, more or less, mostly? What exactly is it? How forgiven is forgiven, really? Am I locked into being a captive to something all my life? Or just how free am I? And finally, where I put my hope and where is my focus in life?

So we'll go through these three verses, 13, 14, and 15, one at a time here, stepping through carefully. He starts off there, you are dead in your transgressions. Notice that's were. Why is it were? Because they are believers. That's believers he's writing to.

You are dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh. This is a message that the Apostle Paul has conveyed in the book of Ephesians as well. You are dead in your trespasses and sins in Ephesians 2.1.

You are dead in your transgressions That word trespasses is also translated transgressions in Ephesians 2.5 and here in Colossians 2.13. The trespasses and transgressions, that word carries an idea of having been on the path, falling off, being off the path, off to the side, falling alongside the path. Sins is missing the mark.

We'll talk a little bit more about that in a bit here. So what it tells us at first is this is not horseshoes and hand grenades. Being close to the path, if you're off of it, does not cut it. Being near the target is not the same as being on target. Getting close does not cut it.

So what are these trespasses and sins? Let's take a closer look here. These trespasses are falling off a path designated by God, only it's not just a, oops, I'm going to be off the path, oh, let's get back on, right? It's not that. This is a serious falling off, right? It is a significant, substantial missing the path that God has in mind and designed for us. So this being off the path is not a small and minor problem. You get the point.

Now how about this word sins? They are a mortally serious spiritual and moral failure. To live consistent with the righteous and completely and absolutely holy and glorious character of God himself. And so missing the mark, if the mark is God's absolutely holy and righteous and glorious character, anything short of that is missing the mark. That's the target. And so this idea of sinning is also off, like falling off the path, but the mark is absolute. the mark is complete and total and sins are missing that. God's character is the standard. Fellowship with God is the standard.

So the unbeliever is dead in his trespasses and sins is the message we get from this Colossians passage as well as those we looked at from Ephesians. You see, the thing is, this deadness is a separation. There's a separation between ourselves and God before we are saved, before we believe. The unbeliever's position, that is, where they stand before God, and at every moment that broken fellowship with God, is constant. His position and his condition are the same. And he's dead in them as he carries out sins. He's still in the sins. This is what Jesus told the Jewish leaders in John chapter 8. Unless you believe, you will die in your sins. The sins stick to them. People think, oh, I got away with that. No, you didn't. People think I got away with this or I got away with that. No, they stick to them. They're stuck in them.

Now, so where is this unbeliever? He's walking, yeah, he's walking, he's going around, but he is in those trespasses and sins. Every walking step that he makes is in them. The description of the unbeliever, however, is not quite done. We've got more to go. In the uncircumcision of your flesh, Now, what's that talking about? Is Paul slipping back into his Jewish past? And is Verne going there with him?

No. This Paul makes clear, Galatians 5.6, for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything but faith working through love. Now this is physical circumcision he's talking about. It doesn't make any difference.

Let's take a look at Galatians 6.15. For neither is circumcision, physical circumcision, anything, nor uncircumcision but a new creation. Ah, being a new creature. That matters. We give several other passages there in Romans, 1 Corinthians, also in Galatians and Philippians.

The truth is Paul is not talking about physical circumcision. That's not his point. That's not what is at stake here. I'm not talking about this kind of steak either, right? Okay. The uncircumcision of your flesh is not talking about anything physical, but rather the status of the sin nature.

And by the way, the term flesh, as the Apostle Paul uses it, refers to various kinds of sins of mind and body, is the expression of the sin nature through the body. the uncircumcision of the flesh, the sin nature is in full control of the unbeliever.

The unbeliever has the sin nature engaged. But for the believer, the circumcision of the flesh is the sin nature put out of commission. Not eradicated, but put out of commission. The believer is then in the believer's position in Christ. The sin nature, can it be engaged? Yes, but it's offline. It's not automatically engaged. It's not hardwired, to use an electrical term. The unbeliever is dead in his trespasses and sins in a sin nature that is entirely calling the shots. That's what this is talking about. What you have in trespasses and sins is a fully operational, fully in control, sin nature.

Back in the 70s, a nasty, nasty man named Idi Amin was in charge of Uganda. And he was, I could say, responsible for killing thousands, but maybe irresponsible is a better way. Nonetheless, a terrible, nasty man, he made the mistake of attacking Tanzania. And Tanzania came and booted him out. He went into exile in Saudi Arabia until he died there in 2003. So now, why do I tell you a story about Idi Amin? It's because Idi Amin was no longer in charge of Uganda when they booted him out. Could he call people up and try to, you know, get a hold of them and say, hey, remember me? Yep, could do that. Did he have control of the country anymore? Nope. Did people have to listen to him anymore? No. Right?

There's the difference. The sin nature in the believers is a deposed monarch. A deposed monarch. That's the difference. Now, so the sin nature in a human being is what produces the sins. That's where they get generated. If you have a wolf, the wolf produces wolf behavior out of its wolf nature. If you have a crocodile, the crocodile produces crocodile behavior out of its crocodile nature. A lion produces lion behavior out of its lion nature. You would not at all expect a crocodile to go jumping from branch to branch, chirping up in a tree, right? Because that's not a crocodile's nature, right?

That's what we mean by that. Now, there's something else for us to take a look at here in Colossians 2.13, because at this point, there's a little comma we want to draw your attention to. It's just one little piece of punctuation, but it marks a huge chasm, a great canyon, if you will. So we have that comma, and that comma becomes a great divide, and the divide between the first part of the verse and the second part of the verse is those who have believed. The first part of the verse is those who have not believed, and then there's the comma, and then the second part is those who have believed, and it reads, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions. Now this answers one question we asked earlier. How many of your transgressions? A few? Most? All. Very important. Very important. All. There is nothing that anybody is going to ever commit that is going to be left out of this. All.

Now, so what is he described here? Colossians 2, 13 through 15, as we're soon going to see here, describes in verse 14, Christ's death on the cross, And it also speaks here of having been made alive, the resurrection. These three are addressed. Being buried is the part that is only implied because it's the death and the resurrection that are directly addressed.

Having forgiven us all of our transgressions. Not only is every believer, every one of us, forgiven of every sin, past, present, and future, it means forgiveness and its full extent are colorfully illustrated in the next verse, verse 14. And this is the way the Apostle Paul does it.

He draws upon cultural background there, the military capture of opponents, was one of six ways, in fact, someone in the culture could become a slave. This was one of them. Let's see. Alexander the Great captured 10,000 Persian soldiers alive and then sold them back for, I think, a wagon load full of gold and then recaptured them again. But anyway, that is an example of this military capture, right? OK. So that's the example that he draws upon here.

The ransom price for which the captive was held must be paid in order for the captive to be set free. The price of the freedom has to be paid in full, completely, entirely. Those who do not believe, those who are not believers yet, remain as slaves by captivity. What do they remain as slaves by captivity to? Well, there are several things. One, the dominion of darkness.

Colossians 1.13 says that. They're still in the dominion of darkness. Oh, but that's not all. And this isn't some late night infomercial.

OK. The sin nature, right? The sin nature, still captive to it. Next, false gods. It's interesting. Christians are warned against idols and false gods, but the unbeliever is captive to them. As a matter of fact, every unbeliever has false gods. Something. If you ask them, do you bow down to metal or wood or glass or whatever material idols, they would say, no, I don't do that. They simply make a false god out of something else.

Maybe even themselves. The law. This is something that is often overlooked. Everyone will have some kind of moral code that they operate by. It may be awfully loose. It may be something that you and I would look at and say, well, something's not right there. Nonetheless, people have their own moral code of some kind. The law judges them. They're captive to men.

1 Corinthians 7.23 says that. They're captive to men, and I don't mean just males. They're captive to death. And unbelievers are captive to their sins. So all those things enslave unbelievers.

But the price of our freedom from that slavery was fully paid this Passage says, by Christ. Only those who believe that they need to be freed from the sins and the ransom price that was paid by Christ's death on the cross take advantage of that payment. Therefore, they have forgiveness of sins.

Paul says, 1 Corinthians 7.23, you were bought with a price. You were bought with a price. How were we saved? Well, we were slaves by capture, held captive until that ransom price was paid. Paid for you and paid for me.

Christ paid the price of that ransom for all by His death on the cross. He paid the price for every single person walking the planet, and those who have and those who will. He paid the price. The price is paid. The money is in the account. Only those who believe take advantage of the ransom price actually having been paid. That's the way it works. Has it been paid entirely? Yes. But believing is what makes the payment apply. Through belief they have been redeemed. The ransom price is not only paid but accepted. And therefore they have full advantage of the payment. The forgiveness of the sins otherwise holding them captive, destined as slaves.

Now, here's an illustration. Verne has become hopelessly, horribly in debt. Way too much popcorn at the ballpark or something, okay? Hopelessly in debt to the tune of, say, $10 billion. There's no way to get out of paying it. I can't file some form or declare bankruptcy. I'm stuck with this $10 billion debt. It's hanging over my head and I'm due for debtor's prison. Right? Okay. So that's Verne's problem. So a wealthy person graciously, boy that's grace, writes Verne a check for $10 billion. But wait a minute. Vern can either believe it and sign the check and go, hey, I'm not from underneath this thing.

Or he can say, ha, that's a laugh, you know, rip it up. Take it, oh, think about it, you know. Maybe when I'm older. Ever hear that one? Wait till I get older. Oh, boy. There's that. Or you just drop it on the floor and just say, it's a piece of junk paper. Or I can believe it and take it and countersign it, turn it in, and lo and behold, I'm out from underneath the weight, the debt, the impossible debt to pay.

You see, we drink from, as we have the illustration here, we drink from the Niagara Falls of grace. We drink from the Niagara Falls of grace. As has been pointed out to me, that's actually not adequate because it's bigger than that. God's grace is unlimited. Niagara Falls, as impressive as it may be, is limited. But at least it's a start. By the way, I don't recommend drinking from the Niagara Falls.

Okay. Now, forgiveness is colorfully illustrated in this way. Verse 14, having canceled out the certificate of debt, consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us. He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. There's a couple of key words to look at here. The certificate of debt, we'll take a look at.

Decrees in the Greek is actually dogma. Dogma. We're not talking about this. Not talking about that. Let's take a look at what it really does mean. The certificate of debt is a statement of obligation. Nobody laughed at that one. That was a groaner. OK. All right.

The Certificate of Debt is a statement of obligation. A statement of obligation. I owe this much. As a matter of fact, it was typically in those days handwritten, because they couldn't do it any other way, by the person who was owing the money. So it was an acknowledgment. I owe you this much money.

But the decrees, I think that's important for us to look at. The decrees. were the item by item points of the law. One. This one, and that one, and the next one. One, and then the next, and then the next. The law allows sin to be categorized. Oh, you did this. You didn't do that. And the law allows sin to be quantified. You broke that law 12 times. You deserve to die 12 times. Figure that one out, right? So the law allows categorizing sins and counting them so that they can be charged to an account. They are looked upon as like moral debts.

Paul himself wrote a promissory note, a certificate stating that he owed money. Philemon 18 and 19, and you have this on page three in your handout. Philemon 18 and 19 contains this kind of statement. Paul is writing to Philemon who is a slave master about his runaway slave who has come to Paul, Onesimus. And so he writes to Philemon about Onesimus and he says, but if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account. So here's Paul's promissory note. This is the certificate of debt there. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will repay it. So this is a legally valid promise to pay a debt, whatever. And it's open-ended. It's whatever he owes.

Now, Philippians 4.18 is the Apostle Paul saying, I've received everything in full. So that's the complementary part.

Philippians 4.18, but I have received everything in full and have an abundance. I'm amply supplied having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent. So he's acknowledging that he's received everything that is due him. So those are two sides of the same kind of interaction here. Now, here is, for example, how it was done in those days. This is from April 18th, 60 AD. That's where this note is from.

And an obligation had been paid out probably. But the way they did it was the person who held the note would then take you know, the ink and just scratch out, you know, whether it's a bunch of messy lines like this or X's, scratch out the note to say it had all been paid, entirely paid. Something important for us to take a look at, the Jews saw sins as debts, debts owed to God. That comes out in what is commonly called the Lord's Prayer, Matthew 6, 12, 14, and 15, and forgive us our debts as we have also We also have forgiven our debtors. And then in 14 and 15, Jesus says, for if you forgive others for their transgressions, and by the way, this is under the law, not under grace, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. And so debts are looked upon Sins are looked upon as debts to God.

Luke 11.4 is another one that makes an equivalence between forgiving debts and forgiving sins. They're looked upon as debts to God. And so that's how scripture portrays it. The usual debt note, self-written, so that the debtor acknowledged the debt, just like we saw Paul doing in Philemon 19. The sins of those who have acknowledged them and believe in Christ's death, as payment of them, are forgiven completely, entirely.

They are wiped out of existence. They're wiped out of existence. God doesn't come and say, you know, I'm going to keep these things here and keep them on file just in case, because I've been watching you. God doesn't do that. They're gone. They're gone. Even when Jesus was on the cross, he had but few words to say towards the very end of his six-hour time there on the cross.

But one of the things he did say is what is often translated, it is finished. In reality, it was an accounting term. Isn't that interesting? For Jesus, in his last words on the cross, he used an accounting term. And the accounting term that he used meant, it is all completely and permanently paid. So even Christ himself, in his last words on the cross, looked upon sins as a debt. A debt that was completely and totally paid. And then the Apostle Paul goes on to one more illustration here. When he had disarmed the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through him. So the readers in first century Roman Empire would look at this verse and find it shocking. Why? Why would they find it shocking?

First of all, death on the cross was profoundly disgusting and repulsive. Often the people who were being crucified had no clothes on. Often the people being crucified, I mean, they were up there if they needed to relieve themselves, it happened right there because they're not going any place. And if there was blood, it just stayed there. It was a mess. If they threw up because of the shock, that stayed there. Whatever was there, stayed there. It was a mess. It was a horrible way to die.

So what does the Apostle Paul do? He has the cross be a victory procession. That's what this verse is. The cross, this disgusting and horrible thing, is a victory procession because Christ won on the cross for us, for you and for me. This verse makes a victory procession out of the worst possible shame in the Roman Empire.

He disarmed the rulers and authorities. Well, thrones and dominions and rulers and authorities, those are terms that are all used for those in high places and it was used in a number of places. We give reference to them here in the New Testament. Those terms were used for angelic powers and actually evil angelic powers. The evil angelic powers were the ones, you see, Satan has a hierarchy and he basically took away Satan's power through this one act there on the cross. He made a public display of them having triumphed over them. Very interesting, this victory procession that he talks about. from the cross to a victory procession. So this passage does answer some key questions.

What real difference does it make whether I'm a believer or not? If I'm a believer, if I'm a believer, that payment of that massive huge debt is all taken care of completely. I didn't do anything other than just believe what God did. That's the key here. It does make a huge difference. I do not have to pay that debt. Christ paid it on the cross. What does it mean for me to have forgiveness of sins? Every single one. And by the way, now that you're a believer, why does God care about sin? I mean, after all, they've been paid for, right? Why does God care about sin at all?

Why doesn't He just say, it doesn't matter, it's all covered. The reason is not because God's keeping track of the sin. He just wants it to get out of the way so it doesn't break fellowship. That's why sin matters at all as a Christian now. If you're a believer now, it's because He wants fellowship with you. And He isn't obsessed with the sin. He just wants it out of the way so it doesn't break fellowship between you and Him. It's the fellowship between you and Him that He desires.

How forgiven is forgiven? All, all of my transgressions. I'm no longer a captive to all that long list of things, that long list of things we looked at earlier. I'm no longer a captive to any of those. Christ has freed me. I have been bought with a price out of that captivity.

Where do I put my hope and where's my focus in life? It starts with fellowship with Him. And then we can have fellowship with one another. The Lord did this not just because He said, hey, I'm a great guy. The little analogy I gave, I didn't even say who was the billionaire that paid my $10 billion. In this case, it is different, however. God did it because He desires fellowship with you and that He be glorified in the process. Let's pray. Lord, thank you.

As we look at this, we give you the praise and the honor and the glory. We thank you that you have indeed paid the price. You have nailed that certificate of debt to the cross. You've wiped out all the little counts that were against us, and you've done it completely so that you can have us have fellowship with you so that you can be glorified. We give you thanks for the insights. We give you thanks for the understanding that we have. And Lord, how wonderful it is to know that you love us and care for us so much. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.