Let's turn again now to pause now to Colossians and chapter 2 and we can read at verse 11.
! Colossians 2 at verse 11.
In him also you are circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body
of flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which
you are also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised
him from the dead.
And so on down to verse number 15.
The last time we were together, or I was with you on the Lord's Day, we looked at chapter
one of this letter and we noticed, as we notice again today and remind ourselves that in these
first two chapters, Paul wants to highlight the supremacy of Jesus Christ in salvation
as well as in creation.
And he is writing with that theme because of the great need that they had and the great
need that we have ourselves to recognize that our salvation is all about what God has done
in Jesus and not so much about what we are doing ourselves.
And we saw in chapter one and verse 12 the way in which God speaks about qualifying us to
share in the inheritance of God's people.
And we highlighted the way in which our salvation is about what God does in our own lives.
Today we want to look at the other side of that and to consider in these verses, to consider
what God has done for us outside of ourselves in the person of Christ.
Christ.
And we are doing so because when you read the letters of Paul, we notice a significant development.
When Jesus speaks of disciples, his emphasis is on people leaving everything and following
him.
When Paul speaks about disciples and about Christians, he speaks about those who are in Christ and who
are with Christ.
There's a development.
There is a change in focus.
And the message is not going to be a lesson on grammar, but I do want to draw attention
to the fact that the key to understanding what Paul says here and elsewhere is his use of
prepositions.
When I went to school and I heard prepositions mentioned, I was not remotely interested.
But prepositions are important because they show us the relationship between a noun and
what has been said in the previous clause.
And there are two prepositions that are central to the message of the gospel that capture for
us so much of what salvation is.
The first of these is the preposition in.
It's through this chapter in Christ.
The second preposition is with Christ.
And all of your salvation and mine today is summed up by Paul in the use of these two
prepositions.
And we hear so often with documentation that the devil is in the detail.
Well, in the case of salvation, the great blessing is in the detail.
When we notice the detail, we notice the marvel of what God has done.
And bearing that in mind, I want us to think of these verses before us here and to think of
the life of faith and our freedom in Christ.
I want to think, first of all, that we have before us a transition.
I come from being in one place to being in another place.
And we see that transition from verse 11 onwards, where Paul speaks about being circumcised with
a circumcision made without hands.
And the very mention of circumcision presents us perhaps with great difficulties.
But I want us to think of circumcision in the light of God's relationship with his people in the Old Testament
as an oath pledge of their loyalty.
Their loyalty to God.
And if they were not loyal to God, they would be cut off from the people of God and sent away from God.
Circumcision is about being cut off.
And here Paul wants them to understand their salvation in the light of that sense of cutting off
and cutting off with a circumcision made without hands.
God is working for our salvation by engaging in this cutting off activity
to take us from where we are, the place to which we are so attached,
the place in which we live our lives.
He comes to us in his grace and he comes to cut us off from being there.
And today, if I'm a Christian, if I'm a child of God,
the evidence of this happening is that I am following Jesus.
But my following of Jesus is the result of God the Father
cutting me off from the life of sin that I lived
and the life that I lived in the service of this world
and setting myself at the exclusion of Jesus Christ.
And he shows us how that actually takes place.
A circumcision made without hands,
putting off of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.
Circumcision, the cutting off of people.
Circumcision, the cutting off of Jesus Christ.
We read in Isaiah chapter 53 that on the cross,
Jesus was cut off from the land of the living.
The cutting off in the life of Jesus is all about the cross of Jesus
where Jesus died for our sins and where,
when he was cut off from God,
he cried out,
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
And we hear that he was cut off because they came
and saw that Jesus was already dead.
And Paul wants the Christians in Colossae to understand
that they were cut off from the life of service to sin
because of the way in which God took them from where they were
and placed them in Christ,
in that new relationship with Christ,
in their union with Christ.
And so today in my lostness,
I'm out here.
I'm outside of the kingdom of God.
I'm outside of Christ.
I'm lost.
I'm serving myself.
I'm under the influence of the God of this world,
the devil and Satan,
and all that this world offers me.
I'm there outside of Christ.
And the moment that takes place in the day of my salvation
is not so much me coming to follow the Lord Jesus.
It's God taking me from there,
cutting me off from the root of that kind of life
and uniting me in my relationship with Jesus Christ
so that his death and his life
become meaningful in my life.
That's why Paul says in writing to Galatians,
I am crucified with Christ.
When I become a child of God,
I'm united to Jesus and his death,
says Paul.
And because of that,
my life up until then has come to an end.
I go on a train journey.
And I may be going from Edinburgh to London.
And I'm going on the express train.
It stops at so many different places.
And then I hear the announcement
that this train,
the next stop on this train is London.
And then I'm told,
this train terminates
at London,
Euston.
And I want us to think today about our lives.
We are on that journey outside of Christ.
And in the day in which God comes to save us,
our journey on that railway,
on that track,
comes to an end.
It terminates
the moment my relationship with Jesus begins.
And so,
for you and for me today,
am I a Christian or am I not?
Am I a child of God or am I not?
Then the first part of the answer
comes in looking at yourself
and asking yourself,
has the life that I lived,
setting myself,
happy in my sinful life,
has that life come to an end?
Has that part of my journey
has determined,
is it now over?
And those of us,
as we struggle
and come into faith,
there is that kind of process
where there is that kind of
struggle and confusion
with the life that I am leading
and the life that God wants me to live.
And that struggle comes to be over
when I'm united to Christ
and the one who died for my sins,
who broke the power of sin,
that through him and in him,
that life has come to an end.
Has your life today changed?
That's the first way
in which faith is evident
in the life of God's children.
That is confined to the past.
It's done with.
I don't want it anymore.
God has taken it away
and I don't want to see it anymore
appearing in life.
And the transition is complete
because not only do I share
what Jesus achieved in his death,
but I also achieve what,
I also take part in what
Jesus achieved in his resurrection.
And that's what we read of
in verse number 13.
You are dead in your trespasses
and the uncircumcision of your flesh.
God made alive together with him.
Here is the preposition,
the with him.
When I hear about Jesus
being raised from the dead
on the third day,
making himself known to his disciples,
when I read and hear that,
that's the new life of Jesus
after the cross
and that's the new life
that the child of God lives
in the moment of our union with Christ
and of being united to Christ
by the invisible hand of God.
the newness of life.
That comes, says Paul,
having had our sins forgiven,
we walk now in this newness of life.
A life that is like the life
that Jesus lived.
A life that shows the work
of the Spirit of God
in our hearts and our lives.
A life that is in the service of God
and no longer in the service of sin.
There is that transition.
There is that movement
in this momentary activity of God
when I'm taken from there
and taken to be in Christ.
And so, today,
for you,
there will be no physical movement.
The way God works,
you can sit where you are sitting.
And at the same time,
the greatest movement ever
takes place in your heart and life.
You don't change your position,
you don't change your body movement,
and in that silence,
motionless picture
of where you're at,
God works.
And He creates this new thing
in your heart.
And the new thing is
creating this union
with the Lord Jesus,
and that changes you forever.
physically,
there's no change,
but before God,
there is the world
of a difference.
That's what Paul wanted them to see.
And that's today
what God wants you and I to see.
A life that has changed
because God has brought us
into a living relationship
with Jesus.
And in that relationship,
we are a new people.
And the same Paul says
that everyone who is in Christ
is a new creation.
And he goes on to say,
all things have passed away.
That train has terminated
at the cross of Jesus.
All things have become new.
The old and the new.
The movement created
by God's work in our hearts.
Are we old or new?
Are we serving sin
or serving the Lord?
The transition
that is the first part
of our freedom.
Secondly,
we want to see
that there is
a transaction.
And the transaction
is based on two images
or word pictures
that Paul gives to us
in these verses.
And in the first word picture
that we have,
there is this idea
of debt cancellation.
We have it in version number 14.
By cancelling the record
of debt
that stood
against us.
There is a handwriting.
It's a handwriting
that speaks of
debts that,
of things that a person
is obliged to fulfill.
And all of these things
are written down.
And the document
is signed
as proof
of the obligation
to keep
and to observe
what is written
in the document.
And for the Old Testament
people of God,
we can think of them
at Mount Sinai
where God brought them
to be his own people.
And the people of God,
they said to Moses
and to the Lord,
all that the Lord
has said we will do,
they were signing
the document,
placing themselves
under obligation
to give obedience
to God
and his commands
and to live with him
forever.
It was
an I owe you
to God.
And it was signed
by them
in that moment
willing to
bind themselves
to God
and committed
to live
to him.
but we know
that
the Old Testament
people of God
were just like
yourselves.
We say the right
things,
we promise to do
so much
but we fail.
And they failed
to fulfill
the obligation.
What they had
signed up to do,
they simply
did not do.
And because of that,
the law that God
gave them,
that placed them
under obligation
to whom
that law now
changed to be a law
that spoke
against them.
It stood
in their judgment.
They had broken
the law of God.
They were condemned
by the penalty
of God's law.
It stood
firmly against them.
And what was true
of the children
of Israel
as they left
Mount Sinai
is true
of humankind
as we leave
the Garden
of Eden.
And for all
of us here today,
there is our debt.
There is our
obligation to
keep the law
of God
perfectly.
There is a promise
that if we do so,
we will have
eternal life.
But there is the threat
that if we don't,
there is the penalty
of death
that stands
against us.
And here we are
in our lostness
and God is
taking us
from the place
of lostness
and uniting us
to the passion
of his Son
and the day
of our salvation.
And he's forgiving
our sins
and he does that
because of
this wonderful
transaction
of cancelling
the record
of death.
He puts
his pen
through it
and he puts
his pen
through it
because of
all that
Jesus has done.
And not only
does he put
his pen
through the
record of
death that
you and I
have,
he also
takes the
document
and he
destroys it
so that the
evidence is
completely gone.
It's
cancelled.
I can
delete a
document
on my
computer
or laptop
and it
will be
in the
recycle bin
and if I
want to
recover it
I can go to
my recycle bin
and restore it
to where it
belongs so that
I've got the
written document.
But if I go to
my recycle bin
and if I
empty my
recycle bin
I'm asked the
question,
are you sure
you want to
empty your
recycle bin?
because once
the bin is
emptied then
these documents
are gone
forever.
And God
does not have
a recycle bin.
When he
deletes,
he deletes it
once and
for all.
And he
deletes the
record of our
sin and the
guilt that comes
with that
record.
He wipes
the slate
clean.
He erases
every entry.
Then he
destroys the
document so
that there is
no condemnation
to those
who are
in Jesus
Christ.
And today
as a child
of God
you may be
troubled because
of your sin.
You may be
troubled because
of the failures
in your life
and the way
in which you
are not able
to reach up
to the standard
that God
has given to
you.
And it robs
you of the
sense of the
peace of the
salvation that
God has given
to you.
And instead
of that peace
there is turmoil.
There is a
sense of
letting God
down.
There is a
sense of
failing to
find the
satisfaction
that God
promises to
give you.
And here is
what the
gospel wants
to say to
you, what
God wants
to say to
you.
The record
of your
debt is
cancelled.
The slate
is wiped
clean.
The document
is destroyed.
God is
saying, I
will forgive
their sin.
I will
remember
their
iniquity
no more.
The
forgiveness
of God.
And our
recent book
on forgiveness
speaks about
the importance
of forgiving
others.
But speaks
about a
psychological
challenge
of not
being able
to forgive
ourselves.
And when
God forgives
us, that
forgiveness
should reach
us so far
as to
enable us to
forgive
ourselves so
that we
have that
perfect peace.
And perhaps
as the
children of
God, that's
one of our
great problems.
That we
don't allow
God's total
forgiveness
forgiveness, to
fill our own
lives totally
and to take
away the
sense of
failure and
guilt and
to enjoy the
peace of
God.
There is the
cancellation of
debt.
the
second word
picture is
the way in
which the
cross comes
to be at
the very
center of
that.
This he
set aside,
nailing it
to the
cross.
He takes
it up.
He nails
it to the
cross.
He wipes
it clean.
The penalty
is thoroughly
executed.
The penalty
is severed in
the passion of
the son.
The son
who had
before him
on the
cross, that
that
superscription,
this is the
king of
the Jews.
That was his
condemnation
under
Pilate.
But the
nails and
the hands
and the
feet of
Jesus on
the cross,
they were
the
superscription
of God
that here
in the
oppression of
his son,
he was
bearing the
penalty.
He was
made a
curse for
us.
All other
sins
deserved.
He
severed in
our
room and
in our
place.
He set
it aside.
He lifts
it up from
us.
He places
it on his
son.
His son
suffers for
it and
takes it
all away.
And it's
deleted.
It's removed
forever.
the supremacy
of Jesus
in God's
transaction
in making
us the
children of
God
and the
way in
which
everything
comes back
to what
Jesus
achieved on
the cross.
He was
made a
curse for
us,
says Paul.
Christ
redeemed
us from
the
curse of
the Lord
by becoming
a curse
for us.
He took
our place.
He died
for our
sin.
And the
cross of
Jesus
cancels
all of the
dead and
removes it
forever
out of
sight.
there is
then the
transaction.
And finally
there is
the triumph.
As we
come into
verse 15
that's where
we see the
triumph.
He disarmed
the rulers
and authorities
and put
them to
open shame
by triumphing
over them
in him.
The rulers
and the
authorities.
The
parish
that are
working in
Colossae.
The parish
that were
generating
the philosophies
in Colossae
that was
so harmful
to the
church.
The parish
that are
working in
the church
in Ephesus
where Paul
speaks to
the church
and reminds
them of
their need
to be
on the
whole
armor of
God
because
they are
not wrestling
with people
but they are
wrestling with
powers,
with principalities,
wrestling with
the devil
himself,
the rulers
and the
authorities.
Paul goes
as far as
to describe
Satan as
the God
of this
world.
The
challenges,
the powers
that are
too great
for you
and I
to conquer.
And that's
so often
our failing
that we
try and
conquer them
ourselves.
That we
see the
giants
and we
think we
can manage
the giants
ourselves.
That we
will confront
them thinking
that we
can conquer
them.
But we
discover time
after time
that they
are too
great for
us.
They are
too strong
for us
and they
are ready
to conquer
us.
And all
of these
ways in
which the
power of
darkness
and the
power of
Satan
works against
the church
in Colossae
and works
against the
church wherever
it is
including
here today
all that
power we
read in
verse 15
he
disarmed
rulers
and
authorities.
It's the
picture of
stripping
them of
their
armor
stripping
them of
all of
their
indications
of power
of leaving
them helpless
and not able
to do
anything.
that's
what Jesus
achieved
on the
cross.
He
stripped
the
power
from
Satan
himself.
He
cast
him
out.
By
the
power
of
God
Jesus
has
the
victory.
We refer
to that
in the
children's
others.
The way
in which
Jesus
is the
champion
because
he
triumphed
in the
cross.
He
disarmed
all of
the
rulers.
In the
letter to
the
Hebrews
we read
that
Jesus
destroyed
him who
has the
power of
death,
the
devil.
And
he did
so to
deliver
those
who
through
the
fear
of
death
are
all
of
their
lifetime
subject
to
bondage.
We
need
fear
no one
as
the
children
of
God.
And
the
devil
wants
us
to
fear
everyone
and to
fear
every
kind
of
situation
and to
say to
us
we
can't
do
this
and we
can't
do
that.
We
can't
go
here,
we
can't
go
there.
Looking
back
to my
own
conversion,
there were
these
struggles
for so
long
that
there
were
so
many
things
that
the
devil
would
tell
me
I
could
not
and
I
cannot
do
as
much
as
my
desire
was
to
follow
the
Lord
Jesus
and
all
of
that
not
overcome
these
kept
me
paralyzed
where
I
was
for
so
long.
It
can
do
that
for
you
today
if
you're
deciding
to
follow
the
Lord
Jesus
there
will
be
all
of
these
arguments
presented
by
the
devil
himself
to
persuade
you
that
you
can't
do
this
and
you
can't
go
there
and
you
can't
follow
because
you
will
fail.
It's
the
typical
strategy
of the
devil
to
stop
you
from
believing
that
strategy
will
perhaps
be
altered
once
you
come
to
believe
but
don't
be
afraid
of
the
devil
or
of
Satan
because
here
we
see
that
Jesus
has
disarmed
him
and
once
we
believe
in
Jesus
the
victory
that
Jesus
has
over
the
devil
becomes
our
personal
victory
we
are
more
than
conquerors
through
him
who
loved
us
and
there
is
in
that
triumphal
procession
we
hear about
it in
sport in
so many
different
ways
once a
victory
is won
once a
competition
has won
once a
cup
has been
won
there must
be a
victory
parade
we
must
go
through
the
streets
of
London
or
Manchester
or
Glasgow
or
Edinburgh
wherever
it is
we
must
have
our
victory
parade
we
must
show
off
the
trophy
that
we
have
won
it's
something
like that
that we
have
here
but it
is
something
different
he put
them to
an
open
shame
by
triumphing
over
them
in
him
and it's
different
because
the
Romans
had
a
particular
practice
and it
was a
practice
that they
had
with
regard
to
victorious
generals
and when
a general
was
victorious
there was
a parade
along
the city
streets
and the
general
would be
followed
not by
his own
army
who helped
him achieve
the victory
but
by
those
whom
he
had
captured
chained
together
exposed
as the
defeated
enemy
and the
general
walking
through
as the
one
who was
the
victorious
one
they
were
defeated
they
were
powerless
they
were
chained
but
he
was
the
victorious
one
and
that's
the image
that Paul
wants to
leave
with the
people
in Colossae
it's the
image that
God wants
to leave
with ourselves
today
that the
Jesus
whom we
trust in
who died
on the
cross
the Jesus
whom we
trust in
who was
raised from
the dead
behind
this is the
Jesus
who enters
into
the presence
of God
as the
great
general
and captain
of his
people
and behind
him
are all
the powers
including
Satan
himself
chained
so that
they cannot
operate as
they did
anymore
and doing
so
putting them
to an
open shame
and what
was the
shame
the shame
of their
defeat
the shame
of their
powerlessness
in the face
of the power
of this
great general
and there is
that sense
of open
shame
and the
triumph
of Jesus
for you
and for me
God has
done this
openly
in the
gospel
and today
we should
not fear
what anyone
should do
to us
we should
not fear
what the
devil himself
threatens
to do
to us
because
Jesus
has triumphed
over him
because he
is chained
by him
and he
will operate
nowhere
beyond the
control of
the Lord
Jesus
all authority
is given
to Jesus
and Satan
has lost
all of his
power
and so
today
because of
this great
procession
and because
of this
triumph of
the Lord
Jesus
we can
follow the
Lord
Jesus
as those
who in
God's
power
and in
his invisible
way has
united us
to the
Lord
Jesus
we can
follow the
Lord Jesus
with a
sense of
triumph
because his
victory is
ours
because the
defeat of
Satan
becomes the
defeat of
Satan in
our lives
and we go
forward in
the strength
of God
in a
sense
not becoming
weary
although the
life of
faith will
challenge us
but going
forward
going from
strength to
strength
because our
strength is
not in
ourselves
it is in
what God
has achieved
in the life
and the death
and resurrection
of his son
and may God
help us to
reflect on
the direction
that God
gives to us
to think of
the great
freedom that
we have in
Christ
and to
understand
that the
freedom is
secured by
Jesus
it is
unchangeable
it cannot
be lost
and the
triumph is
the same
we will
conquer
because
he has
conquered
may God
bless his
word
let us bow
our heads
in prayer
most gracious
God we do
rejoice in
you
God
Father
Son
and Holy
Spirit
working for
our salvation
doing so
even here
today under
the ministry
of the
gospel
we pray
you Lord
as a
father to
touch the
hearts of
your children
we pray
you Lord
as the
Son of
God
to show
to us
more and
more of
your great
love for
us
and we
pray you
Holy Spirit
to bless
your word
and to
breathe that
new life
in our
hearts
that indeed
we may be
the children
of God
who have
that spirit
of adoption
and to
know you
as
Abba
Father
and to
put our
trust in
you as
the one
who has
secured
our
eternal
salvation
for us
so bless
your word
we do
pray and
hear as
we ask
for Jesus
sake
Amen
so
the
closing
psalm is
psalm
118
in the
Scottish
Psalter
sorry
sing
psalms
psalm
118
and sing
psalms
it's on
page
156
and we're
singing at
verse number
19 to
verse 26
psalm
118
page
156
at
verse
number
19
throw
wide
the gates
of
righteousness
and enter
and give
thanks to
God
this is the
gate of
God
through which
the righteous
come
before
the Lord
we'll sing
from verse
19 to
verse
26
to God's
praise
!
O
wide
the gates
of
righteousness
I lend
with thanks
salvation
comes
from you
alone
the stone
the builder
hath
refused
has now
become
the
corner
stone
the Lord
himself
has done
all it
it is
a
marvel
in our
sight
this is the
day
the Lord
has made
in it
let us
take
great
delight
save
us
oh
Lord
we
hum
we pray
oh
Lord
we pray
grant
us
success
he
blessed
who
comes
in
cross
we
gave
you
from
the
Lord
house
we
will
bless
after
the
benediction
I'll
go to
the
main
door
the
grace
of
the
Lord
Jesus
Christ
the
love
of
God
the
Father
and
the
fellowship
of
the
Holy
Spirit
be
with
you
all
now
and
forever
more
Amen
Thank you.