Colossians 2 (Part 3)

Colossians 2, verse 9, down through 15. Here we go.

That's where we're going to stop. You can see there's a lot there. We need to pray. Heavenly Father, open our hearts to the ministry of your word. We rely, Lord, upon you to make sense of it all. Father God, we pray that you would give us spiritual eyes and spiritual ears, a heart that is receptive also, Lord, to your word, to your voice, and speak to your children, and help us to gain a heart of understanding. We ask it in Jesus' precious name, amen. Amen. Like I said, last week we covered three verses beginning in verse 6, 7 and 8, and now here 9 through 15. But here's what's interesting, if you take all of those verses, 6 through 15, there's something interesting, and I thought about bringing this out last week, and I didn't get around to it. I'm going to do it this time. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to put these verses, I'm going to have to break it up onto two different slides. But I'm going to put them up on the screen for you. And what I have done here is I have highlighted those, the things that I want you to see. It starts there in Colossians 2 verse 6. Colossian 2:6-15 (ESV) Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, But I want you to notice the parts that I've highlighted in those verses, okay? I've highlighted basically every reference that you see that says "in Him" or "with Him.” And in this first slide, it's basically in him. Notice, you've got "we are to walk in him," "rooted and built up in him," as you skip down, "for in him, the whole fullness of deity dwells." Which you read today, "we have been filled in him," and "in him, you've also been circumcised." by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Colossians 2:6-15 (ESV) Then we go to the next section here, and he begins to talk about "with him, having been buried with him, raised with him, made alive together." And at the very end, "how he triumphed over all of the principalities, powers, rulers, and so forth in him." And if you basically take all of those things and kind of make a bullet list out of them: ● We are rooted in Him ● The fullness of deity dwells in Him ● We are filled in Him ● We are circumcised in Him ● We are buried with Him ● We are raised with Him ● We are alive with Him ● In Him He has triumphed

This is what you come up with: We walk in Him. We are rooted in Him. The fullness of deity dwells in Him. We are filled in Him, circumcised in Him, buried with Him, raised with Him, alive with Him, and in Him He has triumphed. Pretty cool, huh? You can kind of see when you distill it down a little bit, you get a sense that Paul is focusing his attention in these verses 6 through 15 to the person of Jesus Christ. It's all about Him. It's all in Him. It's all with Him. Everything we have, everything he has done. It's all about Him. In fact, our very existence is found in Him, our very existence. Remember when Paul was preaching about Jesus, he made a statement that's recorded for us in Acts chapter 17. Let me put it on the screen. Acts 17:28 (ESV)

"In him we live and move and have our being." We literally have our being in Him. It's all in Him. It's all in Jesus. And of course, this brings us to a simple understanding that what you and I have is not religion. We don't have a belief system. We have a person. It all comes down to a person. It all comes down to Jesus Christ. Stop arguing with people about religious questions. It's all about a person. "In Him we live and move and have our being." It is all centered around and predicated upon the person of Jesus Christ. It's all about Him. And that is why we know from the scripture also that if you have not the Son, you have not the Father, right? (1 John 2:23) Because it's all about Him. It's all about, centered on the person of Jesus Christ. Paul explains why in verse 9. Look with me in your Bible. These are very important words. Verse 9, Colossians 2: 9,

Those are the phrases I want you to see right there, "For in him the (whole) fullness of deity dwells bodily." Why is it all centered on Him? Because the fullness of deity dwells in Him bodily. Wow, what an amazing statement. Paul is saying here that, and by the way, the word that is translated deity, although it's similar to some other words, this is the only instance of this word in the New Testament, in the entirety of the New Testament in this specific form. And it essentially means that the very essence of God is found bodily in the person of Jesus. It was described by one Bible commentator that I read as the whole glorious total of what God is, is found in Jesus Christ. That is just so cool. And so when we look at Jesus, that's what we find in him. The fullness of who and what God is in the person of Jesus. Now here's the thing. Why did Paul say this? Did he make this statement just to reiterate to you and I the deity of Jesus Christ? It works. I mean, it's good. It's used for that, but he already made that point in the last chapter. He already told us Jesus is God, and he made it very profoundly. The reason he's saying it now in this chapter is because he's using it as a foundation for his next statement, which is in verse 10. The next statement here is, "...and you have been filled in Him…" or as the NIV says it, "...you have been given fullness in Christ..." Do you see why Paul had to establish the fact that all of the fullness of God dwells in Jesus bodily? Did you see why? It's because he was going to make a statement about you. In order to tell you that you have the fullness in you, that he has made you full, he has to establish the fact that Jesus possesses the fullness of God. Because you know, the only way you can receive fullness is if someone or something imparts that fullness to you, and they have to possess it first. Have you ever heard that saying, you can't give what you don't have? Well, you can go around telling people, and by the way, the word fullness means completeness. You can go around telling somebody all day long, you have the fullness of Christ. You have the fullness of God living in you, or something like that. If somebody doesn't understand the fullness of God, that's not going to really mean anything to them. He begins with establishing the fact that the fullness, the completeness of deity dwells in the person of Jesus Christ in bodily form. And you have been given fullness in Christ. Powerful, crazy statement, but we need to stop and ask ourselves what he means, right? Because I can say that to you all day long. Hey, you have fullness in Christ. You might even go, thank you, and then walk away going, what? What exactly does that even mean to have? What is fullness? I know what it is to get up from the dinner table and feel fullness. I don't think that's what Paul has in mind here at all. The New American Standard Bible, instead of saying you've been given fullness or been made full, that Bible translation says you've been made complete. (Colossians 2:10) And that's a very good translation. It's a good definition of that particular Greek word. You have been made complete. Paul's saying that you and I have been made complete. We are complete in Christ. Wow. Here's the problem, okay, with Paul saying it, with me reiterating it, and with you hearing it. Here's the problem. We don't think it really squares with what we know of ourselves, you know? I mean, the Apostle Paul comes along, and he says to you, you're complete in Christ, and we take that into our brain, and we kind of go, huh? Okay, I don't really feel it. I'm not feeling it. You know, you tell me that I'm complete. If we're going to be honest with ourselves, most of us feel incomplete. If we're going to be really honest with ourselves, most of us feel inadequate on a regular basis. We feel like we're lacking something. I used to work with a guy painting houses back a long, long time ago. I was not a good painter, but he was gracious and had a business, and he let me come in, and we painted mostly new construction. He'd set me to doing some tasks like baseboards or cutting in this or there or whatever. And he had this statement that he would say when he would come into the room where I was working, he'd say, what do you lack? And I would say, well, patience. No, I know, what do you have left to do? It was a job. He wasn't asking me about my spiritual life. He wanted to know how much I had yet to do in the job. But he always said the same thing: What do you lack? And you know, my immediate response was, I lack a lot and that's the way we feel. We know that about ourselves, we know that we’re inadequate from a human standpoint. We know we mess up. We know we have weaknesses. We know we have daily challenges. And then the Apostle Paul comes along, and he goes, oh, by the way, you're complete in Christ. And we're like, yeah, right. That's the problem. You see, the problem is that it requires us to hear what the Apostle Paul is saying, but to hear it and to understand that he is speaking a different language. It's called the language of faith. And there are a lot of languages in the world. I barely have a handle on English, but there are a lot of languages, and some of them are very hard to learn. One of the toughest to learn is the language of faith. The language of faith because that's what Paul is speaking here when he says to you and to me, you're complete. And you and I hear that, and we go, uh-uh. But you see, he's speaking the language of faith, and we're hearing it with the ears of unbelief, but it's true. I believe God’s Word is true. Do you, right? I mean, we all do. Okay, that's an easy test, isn't it? You know, if I gave you a test right now, you all would have passed. Is God’s Word true? Yes. Here's the tough one: Do you always believe it? No, not always. Because here's a situation where he comes along and he goes, you're complete. You have fullness in Christ. And we look at our lives, and it just doesn't seem to compute. Want to see another statement where Paul speaks the language of faith? There's, oh, there's tons. I could have you here all day, but I won't. Let me show you this from Romans chapter 8:

Romans 8:35, 37 (ESV)

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ (Paul writes)? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword (I'll even put in a pandemic)? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Did you hear what he said to you? He says, you're more than a conqueror. He said it to me too. And you know what? People hear that, and they come back and they go, but pastor, I don't feel like a conqueror. And therein lies the problem. We believe our feelings over the Word of God. My feelings dictate my belief rather than just accepting the Word of God, which of course I have to hear because it's being spoken with the language of faith. Instead of hearing it with those ears, I listen to my own voice, my own language, which is the language of doubt. And I go, more than a conqueror? I haven't even gotten to the stage of conquering yet. And he says, I'm more. Goodness gracious, God, how out of touch can you be with me and my life? Don't you see me? Are you blind? Didn't you see yesterday how I blew up at that guy in front of me in the line at the grocery store? Or whatever. And now you say I'm more than a conqueror. Hey, it's the language of faith. And there are more statements spoken in the language of faith that Paul is going to make right here in Colossians chapter 2. And if we don't start listening with the right ears, we're going to miss them. They're going to go in and they're going to go out, and we will be unchanged because he's going to make some biggies. Look at verse 11 in your Bible, 2:11.

Now, you guys all know that circumcision was an Old Testament rite. It was performed on Jewish males on the eighth day after their birth. It was a sign of the covenant that God had made with Abraham and then eventually through the rest of the Jewish people. And it was also a picture. Yes, it was something they did physically, but it was a picture of what God would do to his Children in the future. Under the old covenant, there was a literal cutting away of the flesh. Under the new covenant, there is a spiritual cutting away of the flesh. Paul describes it in Ephesians as 'putting off the old man,' putting off the old sinful nature, right? Cutting away of the flesh, if you will. (Ephesians 4:22-24) So you see, circumcision was a type, a shadow, a pointer of a greater spiritual reality that was to come. That's why Paul says that our circumcision, you notice here in this verse, was done without hands or without a scalpel, if you will. It's done spiritually. There is a reality to it that goes beyond the physical. Again, it is that putting off of the old man, the evil, the corrupt, the immoral flesh that we were all born with. Paul says that has been accomplished, past tense. Those are the words of faith. That's the language of faith, isn't it? The flesh has been cut away. Christ did it. It wasn't a doctor with a scalpel. Jesus did it when you came to Him. Wow. Here's the question. Do we believe it? Do we believe it? I hear Christians all the time saying, I just can't get victory over this area of sin in my life. I just can't do it. I just can’t. And because they believe in what they’re saying, which is that they can’t, they remain defeated. They remain defeated because they believe themselves to be defeated rather than hearing with the language of faith that they’ve been set free. They believe that they in fact are still slaves. Here's Paul's answer to the sin that exerts itself and tries to make us captives. Let me show you this on the screen from Romans chapter 6.

He says, and this is out of the ESV, but he says, “...you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Now, the word in that, leave that up just for a second, Jane. The word that is key there is the word 'consider.' Okay? That's a very important word there. It means to think. It means to conclude that something is, in fact, true. You need to conclude that it is true that you are dead to sin. Okay? You know what Paul's telling you to do? He's telling you to listen with faith. He's telling you to put on, to understand the language of faith because this is a work that has been done, and you need to believe it. You need to believe it. And so, he goes on, look at verse 12. Now we're back in Colossians, more statements of faith: “...having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.” First thing Paul says is that we've been buried with Jesus in baptism. Christians, can I just give you a little insight? Please don't think that every time Paul uses the word 'baptism,' that he's referring to water baptism. Because water baptism, it's amazing to me how many times I hear Christians talk about water baptism as if it is the mechanism, that it is the mechanism by which we are buried in Christ. And that process of being released from our sin, people, water baptism is not the mechanism. It's the picture of the mechanism. You with me? Water baptism is a picture. It is not the reality. The reality is Jesus and what he did for you on the cross, and you are buried with him. The word 'baptism' or 'baptized' means immersed, enveloped. When you came to Christ, you were enveloped in Him. You were immersed into Him, and the word is baptized. We go through water baptism as a picture of how we have been immersed and enveloped in Him. Now we've been enveloped in several aspects of His nature and His work. And one of the elements of His work that we've been enveloped in is His death. You and I were literally immersed into His death. And we picture that in water baptism. We picture dying, right? In water baptism, we stand there with a person, and as they go back down into the water, it's that picture of dying, that falling back. And then we have them down in the water, and now that's a picture of burial. They're immersed down in the water, and then we raise them up, and that's a picture of resurrection. But you see, water baptism is the picture. The mechanism, the reality behind all of that is Jesus Christ and the work that is done by faith. When we put our faith in His finished work, right? So, Paul says we've been buried with Him in baptism. We've been immersed into His death. Why is that important? It's important that you and I understand that we've been immersed into His death because now we know that the old man's dead. That's how we know the old man is dead. We joined Christ in His death, and the old man is now buried, right? So, Paul then goes on to say, in which you were also raised with Him then through faith in the powerful working of God who raised Him from the dead. Notice he, Paul says that we were (past tense) raised with Him. We know there's a resurrection coming in the future, but do you know there's one that's already happened? You've already been raised with Christ. I'm not talking figuratively. I'm talking in a very real way. When you came to Jesus Christ, when you confessed your sin, when you embraced what He did on the cross, you died and were buried and then were raised again to live a new life. That's why it's completely inconsistent for you and I to live the old life. And that's why Paul keeps exhorting us in the Word. Are you going to go back now and live the old life? He says, by no means. That'd be dumb. You know, he died to the old life. So don't go back and live in it any longer, right? It's completely inconsistent because you've now been raised to life. It's already happened, but those are the words, that's the language of faith, you guys.

When somebody is defeated by sin, one of the things that I need to do as a pastor is awaken them to begin to understand and to listen to this new language in the Word of God because they're not hearing it, and they're defeated, and they're about ready to give up. They go, hey, man, do you know what Jesus did for you on the cross? We need to go back. We need to go back and revisit the basic elements of what He accomplished for you so that you will hear it with faith and say, yes, it's done. It's done. I don't have to do it. He did it, past tense. It's done, you know. Oh, that can set somebody free. It really is amazing. So the question is, do you believe it? Do you believe it? I hope so. I hope these are all statements Paul's been making in the language of faith. I know that's not the language we normally speak; we don't speak this language naturally, right? This is not our native tongue. This is something we learn to hear in the Word of God. And it takes some practice sometimes to really hear it and say, yeah, you know, I believe that, because you see, faith activates. That's the crazy thing about faith. I don't fully understand this, you guys, but faith activates the reality of what Jesus has done for us. And the best illustration I can give you is in the movie Hook. You guys remember the movie Hook with Robin Williams? I hesitate to say it's a classic already. I'm a classic. I'm not sure about the movie. But there's this scene where they're, he's been working out trying to get back into shape to be Peter Pan. It's hilarious. And they sit down at the table, of course, they're in the, never, Neverland. And they sit down at the table to eat, and he sees nothing, and they take off the tops off all the pots and pans, and there's nothing there. But yet all the kids, all the little boys are just gobbling it up, and they're eating, and he goes, where's the food? And one of the little boys says to him, you have to see it. You have to believe that it's there, and it'll be there. And eventually as the scene kind of goes on, he does, he sees the food, and begins to actually benefit from it. And it's not that he's seeing something imaginary. The point is, with the eyes of faith, we begin to see the reality, and it activates the reality of what Jesus Christ has done for us. Sometimes the reason you're defeated in sin is because you have not understood the reality of what Jesus did for you, and by faith, activated that reality. Put it, you know, made it an active part of your life, you know, and so forth. Check out verse 13 with me.

Okay, so we learn here that before we came to Christ, we were dead. That's when we were dead. And, by the way, the word 'dead' there literally means a lifeless corpse. Isn't that pretty? And there's a lot of words that are used to describe us prior to coming to Christ. This is one of the strongest right here. You were a lifeless corpse in that spiritual sense of connecting to God and understanding the things of God and so forth. And so, it was you, there was way more going on than just needing forgiveness. You needed to be made alive. You needed to be resuscitated. You needed to be regenerated. You were like those lifeless dead bones seen in the Old Testament. And here's how he did it, verse 14, you ready for this? I love this: "...by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross." Guys, what Paul just did is he explained for you and I, how we were made alive. You don't make yourself alive. He makes you alive by, and I love this, canceling the record of debt. Did you catch that phrase? The record of debt. It's kind of like an IOU or a bill that you've been served with. And Paul tells you that it stood against you. I like actually kind of also how the New King James renders this verse. It says, "....having wiped out the handwriting of requirements (interesting, huh?) that was against us, which was contrary to us.” And then the New American Standard Bible calls it a certificate of debt. You've all been served a certificate of debt. That's so nice. But whatever words you use to describe what we're talking about, that standard of holiness that you and I couldn't live up to, that created for us this record of debt that we couldn't pay. And we never could live up to God's holiness, but he had to show us just how unable we were to stand up to his holiness. Do you know how he did that? He gave us the law. Yeah. That's how he did it. Do you understand that's why the law was essentially given? It was given to show us how much we need forgiveness and how unable we are to attain the holiness of God on our own. That's why he gave it. That's why it just boggles my mind when people try to go back and keep the law. And they have things like, well, pastor, we got to do this and we got to do that. It's like, don't you get it? Don't you understand why he gave us the law? It was to show you couldn't keep the law. It was to show us that the law is a reflection of his holiness, which you can't attain to. Never could. So don't go back there. Don't go back and think we got to keep the law. It's not possible, right? So, and frankly, the more you try to live according to the law, the bigger your debt grows. Paul is reminding us here that Jesus canceled our debt and he covered all the legal demands that were standing against us, that were contrary to our freedom.

And He didn't do it through negotiation or legal wrangling. He just basically stepped up and paid it all Himself. He paid it all. I don't know if you've ever had a debt been just paid for you by someone else. Well, you have, but I don't know if you've ever had like a financial debt paid for. Can you imagine, though, the authorities showing up at your house to demand repayment of that? And you can go back and you can say, oh, hang on a minute. You can go back in your records, and you pull out this receipt and say, I have a receipt here showing that debt has been paid in full. And they look at it and they go, oh, well, put away the handcuffs. I guess we came to the wrong home, right? Mud on their face. So they walk away. I want you to notice what Paul says in verse 15, it says, "He disarmed the rulers and authorities..." In other words, He took away their ability to demand repayment. He took away their ability to demand repayment. It's like the rulers and the authorities in this case are the sheriff showing up at your house to demand repayment of that debt, which there's no way you could ever do anyway. And you show them this receipt that you have saying that the debt has been paid in full. And what the person who paid off that debt did for you was he disarmed. He took away the ability of those rulers and authorities to come and condemn you, and to accuse you, and to demand repayment from you because it's been repaid, right? And Paul even goes on to say, “... (He) put them to open shame (He put the authorities to open shame), by triumphing over them in him.” So what's the conclusion of this matter? Let me show you Paul's conclusion. We actually go to a different book, Romans chapter 8:33.

He says, so, now that the authorities have been told to, you know, back off. So who's going to bring any charges? Who's going to bring charges against God's elect? Is God going to bring charges? No, it's not going to be God. He's the one who justifies you. Who's going to condemn? Who's going to come and say hey, pay up. Is it going to be Jesus? No, He's the one who actually paid the debt with his own death, right? More than that, he goes on to say, He was then raised, and He's the one who's actually sitting at the right hand, interceding for you right now. He's not condemning. He's not demanding. He's not accusing. He's interceding, right? Wow. This is wonderful. And yet that is the language of faith.

And it is one of Satan's most effective devices to convince those whose debt has been wiped out that they still owe a debt, that a debt still remains, and they need to take care of that. And I got to tell you something, my heart breaks for believers who've been caught up in the lie of the enemy and who live continually under the burden of condemnation. But I have to ask myself the question, why are they living under a burden of condemnation? Why? Well, I'll tell you why. It's because they know they still mess up from time to time. They know they still sin. And the reality of still sinning creates in so many believers the biggest obstacle for them. And that makes them painfully aware of their sinful mistakes. And because they're painfully aware of it, Satan waltzes in and he gets them to focus on their mistakes. He gets them to think about their sin and just to focus on it. And when they do, they all but forget that their debt has been paid. Why? Well, when you have a fairly myopic view that's focused on your sin, you're not going to be able to see again. You're not going to be able to understand with the language of faith and see what Jesus did for you on the cross because you're looking at your sin. You can see nothing else. When I ask Christians the very simple question, do you believe if you died today you'd go to be with him? And they come back to me and they say, I'm not sure. That lack of confidence is always centered on their sin. Always. It's never centered. I've never had one person yet say to me, I'm not sure I'd go to heaven because I'm not sure what Jesus did was good enough. Never had someone say that. They never doubt what Jesus did. They doubt the presence of their sin. And that causes them to wonder if it's all been taken care of. But again, what Paul has written here is written in the language of faith, and that faith is able to allow us to look past our stumbles. Now, hear me carefully here. When I say look past our stumbles, I'm not talking about ignoring our stumbles as if they didn't happen. I'm not saying that. No, we confess our stumbles. We turn away from our stumbles. We seek forgiveness for those things that have caused us to stumble. But in the end, we have to embrace that Jesus has dealt with them once and for all on the cross, and that our debt is paid, and it's a done deal. It's a done deal. We have to. But just know this, saints, Satan is going to get you to focus on your sin. Because if he can do that, he can cause you to doubt that your debt has been paid. I am so thankful to the Apostle John for recording for us, and the only one to do this specifically in John chapter 19, recording this that: John 9:30 (ESV) When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

And you guys probably know that the word "finished" is the same as "paid in full." It was actually a legal term, paid in full. It's done. The transaction is complete. Okay. And that, for you and I, is something we have to hang on to with all of our hearts. When the enemy comes to condemn, there is, the Bible says, “Therefore, (there is) now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

If you're outside of Christ, there's plenty of condemnation to go around. But if you're in Jesus today, it doesn't exist, because your debt has been paid in full. That's what Paul is saying in Colossians chapter 2. And it's the language of faith. Let's stand together. If you need prayer this morning, the way we're kind of doing things is we're just going to basically ask you as we're done here, that we're going to ask you to head on out and we're going to open up the doors, all the doors here in the auditorium and let you go out, whichever one you choose, but if you need prayer, we're going to ask you to sit back down after we're done praying. And just hold your seat, and we'll kind of make our way around and pray with you. So, let's close. Lord, I remember during your earthly ministry, there were many times you said, let him who has ears to hear, hear what the Spirit is saying. How desperately, Lord, we need those ears, those spiritual ears, that we might tune into the language of faith, to hear what your word is saying so that the enemy can no longer just waltz in and condemn and enslave us with lies. I thank you, Father, for your word and the power of it to set us free. And I pray, my Father, that you would give us ears to hear the language of faith and to understand it and to embrace it and stand upon it and never let go. We thank you and we praise you, Lord, for your Word. It is so good, and we need it every day to nourish our hearts. We ask that you would guide and direct us, Father God, in all things. Through Jesus Christ, our Savior and our King, and all God's people said, amen. Amen God bless you. Have a good rest of your Sunday.