Colossians so far: I am so thankful for the way the Gospel is at work in the world (Col 1:1-8), so I am praying for God’s will to be done in the church (Col 1:9-14), which is all about Jesus, because He is sovereign God (Col 1:15-20) who reconciled us and made us perfect (Col 1:21-23), giving us the ministry of proclaiming Him (Col 1:24-29), and a burden to see the church succeed (Col 2:1-7), by avoiding false teaching (Col 2:8-10).
Jesus Christ: Total Victory for My Salvation
- My Sin is Defeated (Col 2:11-12)
- My Death is Defeated (Col 2:13)
- My Guilt is Defeated (Col 2:13-14)
- My Spiritual Enemies are Defeated (Col 2:15)
Deuteronomy 10:16 - Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.
Deuteronomy 30:6 - And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
Jeremiah 4:4 - Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds."
Jeremiah 9:26 - Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all who dwell in the desert who cut the corners of their hair, for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.
Hebrews 2:14 - ...through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:02
Are we ready to get to God's Word?
00:03-00:04
Alright, well let's do it.
00:06-00:09
Let's do it. Open your Bibles to Colossians chapter 2.
00:09-00:11
We're getting back into our series.
00:13-00:15
Jesus is... somebody tell me.
00:16-00:19
He's first. Jesus is first. Now lets everybody say that.
00:19-00:21
Jesus is first.
00:21-00:23
Alright, now I want you to say the whole thing. Go.
00:24-00:25
Jesus is first.
00:25-00:28
Alright, now I want you to say the whole thing like you would say it if He's standing right here.
00:29-00:30
Jesus is first!
00:31-00:33
Alright, Jesus is first.
00:33-00:34
He is first.
00:34-00:37
In all things, He must have the preeminence.
00:37-00:39
Jesus is first.
00:39-00:42
That's really the whole theme of Colossians.
00:44-00:48
Before we turn to the Word, I just want to share with you.
00:49-00:53
If you've been around me for more than about 9 seconds, you realize I'm a sports fan.
00:54-00:56
Unapologetic. I'm a sports nut.
01:00-01:02
I want to elaborate a little bit on that this morning.
01:02-01:06
I love watching sports, but I don't like close games.
01:07-01:22
Some people say, "That was a good game," meaning, "Oh, it was really close, and it came down to that last play, or it came down to the last two minutes." Some people are like, "Oh, it was really good, and it was really close." Those aren't the kind of games that I like.
01:22-01:24
You know the kind of games I like?
01:25-01:28
I like thorough whippings.
01:28-01:29
That's what I like.
01:30-01:33
I like thorough, I'm unapologetic about it.
01:34-01:40
When I grew up, you know, remember back in the late 80s, who was the big boxer on the scene?
01:40-01:40
Mike Tyson.
01:42-01:44
And I used to love watching Mike Tyson fights.
01:45-01:47
You know, how quick is he gonna knock this guy out?
01:48-01:51
And I loved the thorough whippings.
01:51-01:58
And being a Pittsburgh native, we love our whippings, don't we?
01:58-02:00
We love watching complete dominance, don't we?
02:01-02:11
You know, the first thing I thought of when I was working on this and thinking about thorough whippings and dominance, one of my all-time favorites, Mary O'Reilly, five goals in one game, five different ways.
02:11-02:13
You remember this, Paul Persing, remember that?
02:13-02:15
Five goals, five different ways.
02:15-02:20
Even strength, power play, short-handed, penalty shot, and empty net.
02:21-02:22
Stay back in the feet.
02:23-02:25
That's the kind of stuff that I like.
02:25-02:26
Thorough whippings.
02:26-02:32
When the Steelers play the Browns, I don't want to watch some 21 to 20s squeak it out.
02:32-02:36
When we play the Browns, I want to see us whoop the Browns.
02:36-02:41
I'm talking 48 to negative zero or something.
02:41-02:44
I want to see something thoroughly a whipping.
02:46-02:47
Total victory.
02:48-02:49
Total victory.
02:49-02:54
I like to play, my wife got me into this, anybody play that Words with Friends thing?
02:55-02:56
Anybody play that?
02:56-02:57
Who plays Words with Friends?
02:58-02:59
My wife got me on that.
03:00-03:02
When she first started playing it, I'm like, it's scrabble, whatever.
03:03-03:04
And then I started playing it.
03:06-03:11
I love playing that game if only if I'm, guess what, thoroughly whipping the person.
03:12-03:16
If I can score like the 128 point word, you know, I love that.
03:17-03:32
And I don't want to be like mean, I just, you know, when the game's over I want to say "Congratulations, you beat so and so." And if it's anything less than 100 points I'm just kind of like, "Eh." I like thorough wins. I just do.
03:32-03:39
I like dominant, one-sided, "I'm so sorry I showed up to the game" type events.
03:41-03:45
And, you know we see that in the Bible, did you know that?
03:46-04:01
1 Corinthians 15 and verse 57 the Apostle Paul says, "But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." So I want to ask you this morning, did Jesus Christ accomplish a victory?
04:06-04:27
Did Jesus Christ accomplish a victory? Yes or no? Yes. The Bible says that he did. I'll go back to the with that. But let me ask you this, what type of victory did Jesus Christ accomplish? Was it one of those... that was a close one.
04:28-04:50
Whoo! That was a close one. I wasn't sure if Jesus was gonna pull it out, but he did at the end. At the very end. At the very end. He just... what? Is that the kind of victory that Jesus Christ accomplished? Or was it Pittsburgh Steelers versus Cleveland Browns type victory?
04:51-04:53
Was that the kind of victory that Jesus Christ accomplished?
04:55-04:59
Was it Pittsburgh Penguins versus the Minnesota North Stars?
05:00-05:03
Stanley Cup playoffs type victories, remember those?
05:04-05:07
What type of victory did Jesus Christ accomplish?
05:08-05:22
And this passage we're going to look at today is going to show us that how you understand the work of Jesus Christ is going to affect whether you're walking in victory or not.
05:24-05:28
But before that, if you're taking notes, I want you to write down three "D" words.
05:30-05:32
I'm going to give you three, okay?
05:32-05:33
I'm going to just start writing.
05:33-05:34
First, I'm going to give you three.
05:37-05:53
If you don't believe your salvation is complete in Christ, if you don't believe that Jesus Christ totally accomplished a perfect, dominant victory concerning your salvation, you're going to fall into three categories.
05:53-05:55
One of three, maybe a combination of a couple.
05:56-05:57
The first one is duty.
05:58-05:59
Duty.
05:59-06:08
If you don't believe that Jesus totally accomplished your salvation, You're going to become, "Well, you know, I need to supplement my faith with religion.
06:09-06:13
I need to do these ceremonial things." You're going to supplement your faith with legalism.
06:14-06:20
"In order for me to be more spiritual, here's a list of self-made rules that I have to go by.
06:21-06:29
And I do these things, and that's what makes me spiritual." And maybe it's a self-invented moral code.
06:30-06:35
duty. If you don't believe Jesus totally accomplished your salvation, you're going to fall into that.
06:36-06:44
He did his part, now it's up to me to do mine. Here's the danger of that. This leads to some bad places.
06:45-06:51
It leads to self-righteousness. I did everything on my checklist, therefore, and people start to look down.
06:51-07:08
"Oh, you don't do that. Oh, you don't do these things that I do to make you more spiritual." righteousness. At least to, at times, at least to frustration. Well, if you didn't keep your list, "Oh, I'm not as spiritual as I should be," it may be frustration.
07:09-07:10
It can lead to bondage.
07:13-07:24
You become a slave to your self -invented moral code. Here's the biggest danger for those who You've never fully accepted Jesus Christ.
07:25-07:28
Those who were never truly born again, this can lead to missing salvation.
07:31-07:44
If you live your life thinking that my religious duty is what makes me spiritual, you miss your total and utter dependence on Jesus Christ.
07:44-07:44
Duty.
07:46-07:48
Defeat is your second D word, defeat.
07:50-07:56
And I spent some time talking about total one-sided victory.
07:56-07:58
And I think there's a lot of Christians that don't believe that.
07:59-08:05
They walk around kind of defeated, as if Jesus sweeped out a victory.
08:05-08:09
Or as if Jesus tied the game and it's up to us to get the go-ahead run.
08:10-08:23
And, you know, we just kind of feel like, "Oh, you know, defeat, defeat." Romans 8.37 Paul says, "No, in all these things we are conquerors through Him." We love this. Is that what he says? Bible students?
08:24-08:30
He says, "We are more than conquerors." Like, somebody like wins, right? There's like winners.
08:31-08:33
And what do you call someone that's more than that?
08:34-08:42
There's like really not a word for it. That's why Paul says, "You're not just a conqueror." We are, what? Tell me. More than conquerors in Jesus Christ.
08:43-08:44
We're like better than winners.
08:48-08:48
So defeat.
08:49-08:50
Third one is doubt.
08:51-08:53
And I think this ties in with the other one, doubt.
08:54-09:01
If you don't believe that Jesus Christ fully accomplished your salvation, am I doing the right things?
09:01-09:02
Am I doing enough?
09:02-09:03
Should I do more?
09:03-09:03
Should I do different?
09:03-09:07
And well, did Jesus really do enough?
09:07-09:09
What if I'm not doing enough?
09:09-09:10
Or what if I need to be doing?
09:10-09:14
How am I going to know doubt?
09:16-09:16
That's not total victory.
09:17-09:21
That's not the life of victory that Jesus Christ has called us to.
09:22-09:23
I have in your outline a recap.
09:23-09:25
We haven't been in Colossians in a while.
09:27-09:28
We were off for a couple weeks.
09:28-09:29
So here's a recap.
09:29-09:33
Here's basically everything we've covered in Colossians in like one sentence, okay?
09:34-09:36
And this will take us to our text today.
09:36-09:42
But in Colossians, Paul says, I'm so thankful for the way the gospel is at work in the world.
09:43-10:01
So I'm praying for God's will to be done in the church, which is all about Jesus, because He is Sovereign God, who reconciled us and made us perfect, giving us the ministry of proclaiming Him, and a burden to see the church succeed by avoiding false teaching.
10:03-10:07
That's like Colossians 1.1 to 2.10.
10:07-10:09
Now let's get to 2.11.
10:11-10:17
Remember last time, way back, it seems like it was a year ago, haha, that we were talking about Colossians?
10:18-10:19
It was a year ago, Pastor Jeff.
10:20-10:27
Colossians chapter 2, verse 8, remember when he says, "See to it that no one takes you captive." Don't get suckered.
10:28-10:29
We spent time talking about that.
10:30-10:34
Don't get suckered by false religion that tries to add to Jesus.
10:37-10:42
There's so much confusion over spiritual matters when you don't understand the work of Christ.
10:43-10:49
What really happened as a result of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ?
10:49-10:51
That's the question on the table this morning.
10:52-10:55
What really resulted from the death and resurrection of Christ?
10:58-11:02
I'm going to show you from God's Word that what happened was total victory.
11:05-11:08
Never was in doubt victory.
11:10-11:11
Thorough victory.
11:12-11:17
The four things I want to share with you from this passage.
11:17-11:20
Jesus Christ, total victory for my salvation.
11:22-11:28
Four things that are defeated because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
11:28-11:29
You ready?
11:29-12:04
In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, 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.
12:05-12:09
So number one in this total victory of Jesus Christ, what's defeated?
12:09-12:11
Number one right now, my sin is defeated.
12:13-12:14
My sin is defeated.
12:16-12:18
And I can't believe it, I must have missed the sin part.
12:18-12:22
It seems like he was talking about circumcision.
12:22-12:24
I want to give you a little background about circumcision.
12:27-12:30
It's like a huge old subject to talk about.
12:30-12:32
I want to try to boil it down to a couple of things.
12:34-12:40
But circumcision was a big issue for the Jews in the first century that had come through Christ.
12:41-12:48
Because there was a lot of teaching going on, and honestly the New Testament was actually teaching against this.
12:48-12:56
But there's a lot of teaching going on that in order to be saved through Christ, you had to first become a Jew.
12:57-12:59
Because it is true, salvation is of the Jews.
13:00-13:03
But if you want to become a Christian, first you have to become a Jewish.
13:03-13:09
And then if you want to become Jewish, you have to be, what? You have to be circumcised.
13:09-13:12
So there was this idea that circumcision was tied into salvation.
13:15-13:24
Okay, so what we need to do is go back into the Old Testament and see, well, what was the original purpose of circumcision?
13:26-13:37
Well, circumcision was a sign given to Abraham, way back in Genesis, for the upcoming, in his day, nation of Israel.
13:38-13:40
It boils down to a couple of things.
13:40-13:42
Like I said, there's a lot of symbolism here.
13:43-13:48
But, first of all, it's a symbol of identification for Israel.
13:50-13:52
It was a symbol of identification for Israel.
13:52-13:56
It was the way that God says, "Israel, here's the physical mark that I'm putting on you.
13:57-14:05
You are my people." And this is an external, physical, very graphic mark to identify you.
14:06-14:17
But it was also a symbol that man is born sinful and needs cleansing at the deepest level of his being.
14:18-14:19
It was a symbol of that.
14:19-14:20
It's a very graphic picture.
14:23-14:31
I think you know God is not about just getting the symbols down but missing the lesson behind it.
14:31-14:37
But you know, as people, we fall into that trap a lot.
14:39-14:49
That we take the picture that God gives of something, and we ascribe the value to the picture, but God says, "No, I wanted to teach you a lesson with that picture." That's what Israel did with circumcision.
14:50-14:53
But see, it meant more than the physical act.
14:54-14:59
All of the Old Testament law were symbols to point us to something real and something greater.
14:59-15:06
everything in the Old Testament was to point us to the ministry of Jesus Christ.
15:06-15:10
A couple examples in the Old Testament. When you committed a sin, what did you do?
15:11-15:35
You took your animal to the temple and what? Offered a sacrifice. It was to get it in your head, my sin requires death, but God has provided a substitutionary sacrifice in this animal. So God was teaching this lesson over and over and over. Sin requires death, sin requires death, sin requires death, sin requires death.
15:35-15:42
God provided substitute, God provided substitute, God provided substitute. Enter Jesus who did what?
15:43-15:57
Your sin requires death. I'm the Lamb of God. You see that Old Testament was to point to Jesus. It was the shadow, Jesus as the substance, like the high priest.
15:58-16:17
You know, you didn't just go up and offer your own sacrifice, you had to have that priest as a mediator for you. And the whole picture of the high priest with his robe and symbolism and the the day of atonement. All these pictures are to point to Jesus Christ.
16:20-16:22
And that's the truth about circumcision as well.
16:25-16:28
You see, I have a bunch of verses, I'm not going to read them, I don't know how you can read these.
16:29-16:40
But circumcision was more than a physical act. Deuteronomy 10.16, "Circumcised therefore the portion of your hearts." God says, "This is more than a physical identification.
16:40-16:42
This is a spiritual reality.
16:42-16:49
You need sin cut away." And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart through your own authority.
16:49-16:51
Jeremiah 4, Jeremiah 9.
16:52-16:56
Israel was to learn, sin needs cut away.
16:59-17:02
The physical act was to point to the spiritual reality.
17:05-17:06
I needed sin cut away from me.
17:08-17:17
But I can't cut sin away from a physical part of my body, because where does sin reside?
17:19-17:19
Where does sin reside?
17:20-17:20
It's in here, isn't it?
17:21-17:22
It comes from here.
17:25-17:27
Who can do that type of surgery?
17:27-17:29
Who can cut sin away from the heart?
17:30-17:31
Who can do that?
17:33-17:34
Only Jesus Christ can do that.
17:35-17:36
Are you following me?
17:37-17:42
Only Jesus Christ can cut sin away from the heart.
17:42-17:44
That's why he says in the text of Colossians.
17:45-17:54
He says, "In Jesus also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands." Because it's a spiritual thing.
17:54-17:55
He goes on again.
17:58-18:03
He calls it "by the circumcision of Christ." This is something that Jesus does in here.
18:06-18:09
Our mark of God's ownership is not physical, it's spiritual.
18:10-18:12
He literally takes away your sin.
18:15-18:16
He takes away your sin.
18:16-18:18
Does that make sense about circumcision?
18:18-18:23
I don't want to get into the whole history of the practice, but...
18:24-18:27
God gave the picture of the Old Testament Israel...
18:27-18:30
to point to the New Testament reality of Jesus Christ.
18:33-18:35
He needs some major heart surgery done.
18:36-18:37
And Jesus Christ accomplished it.
18:38-18:39
My sin is defeated.
18:40-18:42
Well then he goes on, he talks about baptism.
18:42-18:49
Verse 12, "having been buried with him in baptism." Now baptism is not New Testament circumcision.
18:50-18:53
Now there are many churches that just sort of made that switch.
18:53-18:56
In the Old Testament, to be part of the covenant family, you circumcise your child.
18:56-19:02
So now that we're in the New Testament, when you have a baby, to make that baby part of the covenant family, we baptize the baby.
19:02-19:04
It's just the New Testament circumcision.
19:05-19:06
That's a missing picture.
19:07-19:19
I've had a lot of parents come to me over the years, like, "You're going to baptize my kids? You're going to baptize my kids? You're going to baptize my kids?" I'm like, "Uh, I'm going to have to give you no." "Why won't you baptize my kids?" It's a teaching opportunity.
19:20-19:23
So here's what the Bible teaches about baptism.
19:24-19:28
It's not swapping out one ritual for another.
19:31-19:34
So what's the connection? Why does he mention baptism? Listen closely here.
19:35-19:39
I'm going to read what I wrote down, because I spent a lot of time thinking about how I wanted to say this.
19:41-19:48
Old Testament circumcision was to point to our need for sin and to cut away from our hearts.
19:49-19:53
Jesus literally accomplishes this in the life of a believer.
19:56-20:04
And baptism is the response by someone who has experienced this defeat of sin.
20:06-20:12
Baptism doesn't save you any more than circumcision saves you.
20:13-20:16
Baptism is an outward response to an inward reality.
20:18-20:22
When people come to me and ask about baptism, I tell them about weddings.
20:22-20:27
And when people come to me to talk about weddings, I compare it to baptism.
20:27-20:29
Because I think there's a lot of parallels there.
20:30-20:31
Here's what I mean by that.
20:31-20:37
At a wedding, the two people don't fall in love, typically, at that moment.
20:39-20:44
That I get up with them and say, "Dearly beloved, we gather for this." That's not the moment that they fall in love.
20:45-20:45
Right?
20:45-20:58
They fell in love way back here somewhere and they decided to get married and their love for each other brought them to this point Where they want to declare before God and before others. I'm committing myself to this person for the rest of my life That's a wedding, right?
21:00-21:22
Well baptisms were the same thing. Somebody doesn't get saved because they're done. It's Somebody's become a follower of Jesus Christ identified with his death burial and resurrection in here And now comes the day when they say I'm making a public declaration before God and others that I'm committing myself totally to Jesus Christ.
21:24-21:26
It's an outward picture of an inward reality.
21:31-21:32
My sin is defeated.
21:33-21:34
My sin is defeated.
21:35-21:36
One more word on that.
21:36-21:46
Sometimes I hear people, Christians, even well intentioned, say things like, "Oh, you know what? We're just sinners." "Yeah, we're just sinners." Is that true?
21:48-21:54
If you're in Christ, He did surgery in here to cut that away from you.
21:55-21:56
You are not a sinner.
21:59-22:03
If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, if you're born again to believe in Christ, you're not a sinner.
22:04-22:11
And sometimes we have a tendency to do sinful things because we've convinced ourselves that we're sinners, because we haven't embraced this reality.
22:11-22:13
He can't be free from that, man.
22:13-22:14
I'm not that person anymore.
22:16-22:18
And yeah, we still make wrong choices.
22:18-22:20
We still sin at times.
22:20-22:23
But God does not identify us as sinners in Christ.
22:24-22:28
Because He made a circumcision with our hands in here.
22:28-22:29
For Him to be held.
22:30-22:31
My sin is defeated.
22:33-22:34
Number two, my death is defeated.
22:36-22:37
My death is defeated.
22:37-22:50
He told me in verse 13, "And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him." I'm going to stop there.
22:53-22:58
"My death is defeated." He talks about the uncircumcision of your flesh.
22:58-23:03
"You were dead in the uncircumcision of your flesh." Meaning, are you just living according to the flesh?
23:03-23:08
Are you just living according to fallen sinful human nature?
23:10-23:10
Then you're dead.
23:12-23:14
You're cut off from the life that God gives.
23:16-23:17
And he says you were dead.
23:18-23:20
Notice that you were dead.
23:22-23:24
Sin brought death into the world.
23:26-23:31
I saw, my wife was watching something on TV, and I was just walking through the room a few days ago.
23:32-23:43
I'm like, "What are you watching?" She's like, "I don't know what this is." It was one of those things she was kind of flipping the channels, "I'm not sure what this is." Well, the show was called American Stuffers.
23:44-23:46
Anybody seen American Stuffers, anybody?
23:48-23:48
Just me?
23:49-23:51
Just, come on, pass up.
23:53-23:53
You're in church, people.
23:54-23:55
American Stuffers.
23:58-23:59
I got your back, though.
23:59-24:01
Did you see American Stuffers?
24:01-24:02
No, don't lie.
24:03-24:06
I love Sammy's story. He just doesn't want me to be hanging.
24:06-24:08
I saw it. I don't know what he's talking about.
24:09-24:11
It's a show about stovetop stuffers.
24:11-24:14
If you didn't see American Stuffers, you didn't miss anything.
24:14-24:17
Well, here it is. It's another reality show, like we need to know this.
24:18-24:20
And this guy's a taxidermist.
24:21-24:24
And it's like a behind-the-scenes view of taxidermy.
24:25-24:26
It's American Stuffers.
24:27-24:28
What's the name they picked for this show?
24:31-24:34
Well, this guy had a little dog.
24:36-24:47
And they were showing it, you know, they did all their taxidermy stuff and prepped this dog while he was laying, you know.
24:48-24:51
This guy was like a big mean-looking motorcycle dude, okay?
24:52-24:56
Like he was, I mean, he looked like the kind of guy that can rip your face off with a dirty one.
24:56-25:07
And he walks in, and the American stuff forgot his name, and he's like, "Here she is." And this motorcycle guy turns and falls.
25:09-25:22
And he's like, "It's so good to have you back!" And then, he straps this dog to the back of the motorcycle.
25:24-25:25
It drives off.
25:28-25:31
I'm like, there went the sentimentalism for me right there.
25:32-25:36
He like straps it with bungee cords on the back of his bike.
25:36-25:38
And there's like this stiff as a boring dog.
25:42-25:43
Don't waste your time watching that.
25:45-25:48
But he said, "I got her back!" Did he really get her back?
25:50-25:51
What did that dog need?
25:52-25:57
What did that dog do? The dog was dead. What do dead things need? Don't overthink it. What do dead things need?
25:58-26:10
Dead things need life, right? Dead things need life. He didn't get her back. He's going to take that dog home and set her before he knows she is not doing anything because she's dead.
26:10-26:14
Actually it was a he. I just remembered the name but I'm not going to tell you. If you want to know, I'll tell you afterwards.
26:18-26:23
It's not immoral, it's just not a word that you say in church.
26:24-26:24
Okay?
26:27-26:29
What do dead things need?
26:29-26:30
Dead things need life.
26:31-26:32
Dead things need life, that's what they need.
26:33-26:33
That's what that guy needed.
26:34-26:36
Can you stuff that dog full of life?
26:37-26:37
I know we cannot.
26:40-26:48
But you see, for us, our greatest need, our greatest need, When we were dead in our trespasses, what was our greatest need?
26:48-26:49
Our greatest need wasn't education.
26:50-26:55
If I just learned some more things, that's not going to do it.
26:56-26:57
Our greatest need is not education.
26:58-27:00
Our greatest need is religion.
27:02-27:04
And our greatest need wasn't even morality.
27:04-27:10
If I do enough good things, we were dead in our trespasses by the uncircumcision of our flesh.
27:10-27:11
What do dead things need?
27:13-27:14
Thank you, Lord.
27:14-27:15
What do dead things need?
27:16-27:16
Life!
27:16-27:17
Dead things need life!
27:17-27:21
So we were dead and we've been, what does your text say?
27:22-27:22
Made alive.
27:22-27:24
God made alive.
27:27-27:32
You've heard me say this before and I'm going to say it every so often until the Lord calls me now.
27:34-27:35
You're going to be singing with me at some point.
27:36-27:40
Jesus Christ did not come into the world to turn bad people into good people.
27:44-27:46
He didn't come to turn bad people into good people.
27:46-27:48
What did Jesus Christ come to do?
27:48-27:52
He came to turn dead people into alive people.
27:53-27:55
That's the ministry of Christ, okay?
27:55-27:58
Literally, from death to life.
28:01-28:12
Hebrews 2.14, "Through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil." My death is defeated. I'm not afraid to die.
28:13-28:16
I don't mean that in an arrogant way, or a cocky way, or a macho way.
28:17-28:20
I just mean I'm not afraid to die. I've actually come close a couple of times.
28:21-28:25
I'm not afraid. Because my death is defeated.
28:27-28:31
You know how I told you I like total victory.
28:31-28:40
Something else I like with a total victory, when it's my team that wins, is a little trash talk.
28:41-28:44
And do you know the Bible actually trash talks death?
28:44-28:45
Did you know that?
28:46-28:51
First Corinthians 15, death is swallowed up in victory.
28:53-28:54
And then you know the next verse, right?
28:54-28:58
1 Corinthians 15, 54, and 55.
28:59-28:59
Death.
29:00-29:01
Where is your victory?
29:02-29:04
It's like the ultimate trash talk.
29:04-29:05
Death.
29:05-29:06
Where is your sting?
29:07-29:08
Like, you've got nothing.
29:09-29:11
Everybody's so afraid of the big, bad death.
29:11-29:17
"Oh, we're so scared of death. Oh, we're all gonna die. I'm so scared." Death has nothing.
29:18-29:20
Because Jesus Christ accomplished total victory.
29:20-29:22
And understand this.
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Eternal life isn't something you get someday in Christ.
29:27-29:30
When you put your faith in Jesus Christ, eternal life is something you have now.
29:31-29:37
It starts now, and when your physical body wears out, you just go right on into eternity, but you keep living.
29:39-29:39
Right?
29:39-29:40
Death is defeated.
29:42-29:44
Death has no gain.
29:44-29:45
Did I say that right?
29:46-29:47
Okay.
29:48-29:49
Death has no game.
29:52-29:53
Not in my house.
29:54-29:54
All right, I'll stop.
29:56-29:57
My death is defeated.
29:58-29:59
Isn't that good news?
30:00-30:01
Isn't that good news?
30:02-30:03
Death is defeated.
30:03-30:05
Like the thing everybody's afraid of.
30:05-30:07
Jesus is like swallowed up.
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It's gone.
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No stink.
30:11-30:12
Two more.
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My guilt is defeated.
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This is like an I am the tiger passage.
30:17-30:18
I gotta tell you.
30:19-30:20
My guilt is defeated.
30:21-30:22
Look, look, look on in the text.
30:23-30:26
Like this isn't enough that sin, our big problem, it's dealt with.
30:27-30:28
Death, our big scare, it's dealt with.
30:29-30:31
What about this guilt that we carry around?
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Well, look what he did with that.
30:33-30:39
Having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of death that stood against us with its legal demands.
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This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
30:47-30:49
You know, over and over, scripture calls God a judge.
30:51-30:56
And oftentimes in scripture, this is a passage under that same category.
30:57-30:59
A lot of times the Bible uses courtroom terminology.
31:01-31:05
He talks about your record of death in courtroom terminology.
31:05-31:06
That's a rap sheet.
31:09-31:13
When you stand before God in your natural state, you know, you have a rap sheet, you know?
31:14-31:22
Every sin you've ever committed, God's like, "Yep, guilty, guilty." You have an erection.
31:24-31:26
Even breaking it down to the Ten Commandments.
31:28-31:30
Have you ever been guilty of breaking any of the Ten Commandments?
31:30-31:33
Does God always have the first place in your life?
31:33-31:48
In the First Commandment, "Have no other gods before me." Second Commandment, "Do not make yourself any idols." "Do not have something in your life that is more important to you than God." Third Commandment, "Do not use the Lord God's name in vain." of God's name. Have you ever done that? Guilty. Fourth commandment, remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.
31:50-31:55
Which is a holy testament of fulfillment to that. Have you been resting in the Sabbath eternally and trusting in Jesus Christ?
31:55-31:58
What about the fifth commandment, honor your father and mother. Have you done that perfectly?
31:59-32:02
Have you always honored your father and mother? Have you? Have you? Guilty.
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Okay, the sixth commandment, thou shalt not murder. Aha, I've never killed anyone.
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Jesus said if you've hated someone, you've murdered them in here. Guilty.
32:12-32:14
7th Commandment, thou shalt not commit adultery.
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Jesus said if you look at a woman lustfully, you've committed adultery in here.
32:19-32:22
You ever done that? You ever looked at somebody with lust?
32:22-32:24
Guilty. Not looking too good for you.
32:24-32:26
8th Commandment, do not steal.
32:26-32:27
You ever stolen anything?
32:28-32:32
Or as I'd like to tell the kid, you ever put your grubby mitts on something that didn't belong to you?
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Guilty.
32:34-32:36
9th Commandment, do not bear false witness. Do not lie.
32:36-32:40
You ever known the truth and deliberately deceived someone by telling them something else?
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lie? Guilty! Tenth Commandment's not covered. You ever wanted something that somebody else had? I wish I had that person's spouse, that person's car, that person's house, that person's whatever. Have you ever done that? Guilty! You have a rap sheet.
32:58-33:08
Well that's just Tenth Commandment's, right? Well James tells us if you've broken God's law at any one point, you're guilty of the whole law. Ouch. Guilty. You have a rap sheet.
33:12-33:15
And then he talks about its legal demands.
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Here's the problem.
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There's a penalty for breaking the law.
33:20-33:21
There's a penalty for breaking the law.
33:23-33:25
He's my good friend, Dale, and I'm always picking on him.
33:26-33:27
He's a correctional officer.
33:27-33:29
Is there a penalty for breaking the law?
33:30-33:31
That's why this man has a job.
33:31-33:32
Did you know that?
33:33-33:36
Because there's a penalty for breaking the law.
33:36-33:52
Well, let me ask you this, if you're guilty of rebelling against a 100% holy, righteous, just God, the perfect judge, if you're guilty in his courtroom, what do you think the chances are of getting off?
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Do you stand guilty before a holy God?
33:58-33:59
Well, here's where the good news comes in.
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Look what God did with your rap sheet.
34:03-34:08
In case you have this rap sheet that says, "Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty." Look what God did with it.
34:09-34:14
It says He cancelled the record of debt.
34:16-34:16
How did He do that?
34:17-34:18
He set it aside.
34:22-34:23
He nailed it to the promise.
34:24-34:34
God didn't just say, "You know what? I'm just going to put this in the filing cabinet. We'll forget about this for now." I'll stick it in a desk drawer somewhere, or save it on my computer.
34:35-34:36
What did God do with your rap sheet?
34:38-34:43
Listen, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you don't have to carry guilt around with you anymore.
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Because God punished His Son for your sin.
34:50-34:51
And that's the picture.
34:52-34:55
Because He nailed that rap sheet to the cross.
34:55-35:02
So anytime you're feeling the guilt, you know, I haven't always been the person I need to be, but I've made some stupid mistakes in my life.
35:02-35:16
And God's answer to that is, "Look where I put your rap sheet. Look where I put it. I nailed it to the cross." So when you see that rap sheet, what you see is somebody took your place to take that punishment.
35:18-35:19
Nailed it to the cross.
35:22-35:27
Done, finished, not guilty, forgiven, pardoned.
35:28-35:29
My guilt is defeated.
35:31-35:32
My guilt is defeated.
35:34-35:35
Are you free of guilt?
35:39-35:42
There are people in this room that are still carrying guilt around.
35:47-35:50
If you don't know Christ, that's your problem, first of all.
35:50-36:04
If you're someone like, "I know I know Christ, I've been walking with Christ, I just can't seem to shake this deal with it. I can't seem to do it." Well, I have a lot of people from time to time that just don't come to me with that issue.
36:04-36:09
like, you know, I'm really struggling because I did some bad things like 10 years ago.
36:10-36:14
And, you know, certain people come into my mind now even recently.
36:14-36:16
So I'm just really struggling with guilt.
36:18-36:33
But understand this, if you're a born again believer in Jesus Christ, but you're still holding on to the guilt from your sin, in essence what you're doing is questioning God's integrity.
36:34-36:36
And here's what I mean by that.
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Let's say I wronged you.
36:40-36:43
Let's say I just, let's say I completely wronged you.
36:44-36:48
You know, Jacob, let's say I did something deliberately, I completely offended you.
36:49-36:54
And I come to you and I'm like, you know what, Jacob, I was completely out of line, I am so sorry.
36:55-36:55
Will you forgive me?
36:57-36:57
Will you?
36:59-37:00
I said, Jacob, he's a good guy.
37:00-37:01
He says he forgives me.
37:02-37:06
And the next time I see Jacob, I put my head down.
37:06-37:08
Hey, Jake.
37:09-37:10
Hey, Jake, how's it going?
37:10-37:14
I'm like, yeah, I feel really bad.
37:15-37:16
You forgive me?
37:17-37:21
And you would say, you're like, I already did, man, right?
37:22-37:27
And the next time I see you, I'm like, Jacob, I still feel really bad, will you forgive me?
37:28-37:30
And you would say, stop asking me!
37:31-37:32
That's what you would say, right?
37:33-37:34
Like, dude, you don't believe me.
37:35-37:36
Is that the story here?
37:36-37:37
You don't believe that I forgave you.
37:37-37:38
You just don't believe me.
37:39-37:40
You're calling me a liar.
37:40-37:42
I said I forgave you, now you're calling me a liar.
37:42-37:44
Now you have something else to be sorry for, right?
37:45-37:45
(congregation laughing)
37:48-37:53
If God says you are forgiven, let go, man.
37:54-37:55
Let go.
37:55-37:57
My guilt is defeated.
37:58-37:59
And when I think, I've done a lot of stupid things.
37:59-38:06
I don't have enough time in 2012 to try all the stupid, sinful, rebellious things I've done in my life.
38:07-38:25
But when I'm tempted to feel guilty or to feel like, "Gosh, I'm just... I'm scum." You know, I think, "Where's my rap sheet? Where is it? Somebody tell me where's my rap sheet?" He nailed it to the cross! God says, "There's your rap sheet!" It's a done deal.
38:26-38:27
I'm gonna let go of the guilt.
38:28-38:28
Okay?
38:29-38:31
Let go of the guilt. Last thing.
38:32-38:33
Number 4.
38:34-38:36
My spiritual enemies are defeated.
38:37-38:39
My spiritual enemies are defeated.
38:40-38:49
Verse 15 says, "He disarmed the rulers and authorities." Now that term, rulers and authorities, refers to evil, demonic, spiritual forces.
38:49-38:52
Satan and his fallen angels.
38:53-38:57
excuse me, Ephesians 6.12, makes that very clear.
38:59-39:05
He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.
39:07-39:08
What's he talking about here?
39:08-39:10
Well, this image comes from a Roman practice.
39:11-39:23
When a triumphant Roman general would come home from battle, after winning a battle, he'd have all the captives from the side he just defeated and he'd take them on a parade.
39:24-39:29
Not like in honor of them, in public humiliation of them.
39:30-39:45
You know, this Roman general was going through the streets and here's these chumps that he just beat being put to open shame, where people would ridicule, mock, laugh at, celebrating the victory, but it was putting the enemy to open shame.
39:46-39:48
That's what Jesus did to them.
39:49-39:50
and the demons.
39:51-39:53
We try to stop his redemptive work.
39:53-40:01
And we read the gospel so many times, Satan trying to get this redemptive work of Christ derailed, and at the end of the day, what did Christ do?
40:02-40:10
Victory parade, open shame on the enemies, salvation is accomplished.
40:11-40:13
That's what he's talking about here.
40:15-40:23
I love this, it says, "He disarmed them!" Like Satan shows up with his big bad weapon, which the Bible actually says is death.
40:23-40:26
And we already talked about that, what did Jesus do with death?
40:26-40:32
He's like, "Oh, that's your weapon." Swallowed up the victory, and Satan's standing there like it's not his weapon.
40:35-40:38
I was, you know, how do I illustrate this?
40:38-40:42
How do I illustrate being disarmed?
40:43-40:45
and I thought of my dad and his little dog.
40:49-40:55
Part chihuahua, part toy fox terrier, part spawn of hell.
40:57-40:58
(audience laughing)
41:02-41:03
I like big dogs.
41:05-41:10
And this dog was the reason I'm really fond of most little dogs.
41:10-41:12
But her name was Maggie.
41:12-41:18
She, if you came within a zip code of my father, this dog would try to bite you.
41:20-41:23
But little dogs, see, like I have a boxer, he has like the big blunt teeth.
41:23-41:25
These little dogs, what are their teeth like?
41:26-41:29
They have like a mouth full of microdermic needles, right?
41:31-41:37
Well, like most miserable, nasty, wretched things, this dog lived forever.
41:40-41:42
You're like, "Oh, I like that."
41:42-41:43
(audience laughing)
41:44-41:45
You shouldn't think thoughts like that in church.
41:46-41:50
But, dad used to feed this dog a bit of honey.
41:51-41:53
You know a bit of honey, you know that candy?
41:53-41:56
Bit of honey, he used to feed that to the dog.
41:56-42:02
Well, eventually, what do you think happens to a 90-year-old dog that has a steady diet of a bit of honey?
42:02-42:04
What do you think happens to the dental work there?
42:06-42:07
Your R.T. started falling out.
42:08-42:11
Then you get close to dad, and this dog would snap at you.
42:14-42:15
But it didn't have any teeth.
42:15-42:17
So you're like, "Pfft.
42:18-42:21
Whatever." That's what Jesus did to Satan.
42:21-42:22
He disarmed him.
42:23-42:25
The dog was still vicious.
42:26-42:28
The dog still had mal-intentions.
42:28-42:31
Jesus was just like, "Pfft.
42:32-43:09
You're disarmed and defeated." still wrestle we can't be defeated they cannot be victorious so in closing don't undermine the power of the atonement Don't undermine it. Jesus Christ did not squeak out a victory in over time.
43:12-43:22
Jesus Christ came to destroy the works of the devil and vice versa.
43:26-43:30
Jesus Christ came to defeat our enemies.
43:31-43:34
Our sin, removed by Christ.
43:34-43:37
Our death, destroyed by Christ.
43:38-43:40
New life is given to us by Christ.
43:41-43:43
Our guilt is forgiven by Christ.
43:43-43:52
And our spiritual enemies, utterly, truly, shamefully defeated by Jesus Christ.
43:52-43:57
We're going to celebrate this in just a moment by taking the Lord's Supper together.
44:00-44:03
Jesus said to do this in remembrance of Him.
44:04-44:16
I'm going to lead us in a prayer and if the action has become important, as the elements are being distributed, I ask that you hold on to them and we'll take the Lord's Supper together.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Colossians 2:11-15
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.