| Introduction Stuart Townend reflects the teaching of our passage this morning very well in his hymn How Deep the Father's Love for Us. In it he says, How deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure, that He should give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure. How great the pain of searing loss – the Father turns His face away, as wounds which mar the Chosen One bring many sons to glory. Behold the man upon a cross, my sin upon His shoulders; ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held Him there until it was accomplished; His dying breath has brought me life – I know that it is finished. There is no greater display of the Father's love for us than the triumph of the cross of Jesus Christ. I. Our Union with Christ through the Triumph of the Cross, 11-12. A. Our union with Christ is accomplished through circumcision, 11. 1. The fact that Paul brings up circumcision out of the blue leads us to believe that there was a Jewish element in what the false teachers were saying, particularly the need to add physical circumcision to faith in Christ in order to continue in your Christian walk. 2. Paul replies that no one who believes in Christ needs to be circumcised for religious reasons because through faith in Christ one is already circumcised. a. This circumcision is not done in the flesh. b. It is a spiritual act. 1) Here it is said to be accomplished without hands. 2) In other places it is called circumcision of the heart. Dt. 10:16 – Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer. Dt. 30:6 – And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. Jer. 4:4 – Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your hearts, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. a) These three passages are significant because they are addressed to people whose males had likely been physically circumcised, and yet God says that there is something very important missing when the physical ritual does not reflect a reality of the heart. b) When we add to these passages Rom. 2:28-29, we find the identity of a true Jew: one who hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ and believes in it. Rom. 2:28-29 – For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor iscircumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God. c. So what Paul is saying is this: "You have these people telling you that the men of the church need to be circumcised according to the OT requirements. I am telling you that you have something better. You all have been circumcised, both men and women, with a better circumcision: the circumcision of the heart." 1) This is consistent with what the Bible says concerning the New Covenant. 2) It is a bigger, better covenant. a) It is not just for one nation, but it includes all nations. b) It is not based on ceremonies, but on relationship. c) As a bigger, better covenant it makes sense that everyone who is part of it receives the sign and seal of the covenant, not just males. 3. The circumcision is effected by Christ – the circumcision of the Christ. a. Christ circumcises us with the knife of faith – "through faith in the working of God," 12. Eph. 2:8 – For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. b. And he doesn't cut just a little bit of skin – he cuts off the whole flesh = old nature. 1) The word translated putting off is much better translated as stripping off. a) This is not a gentle and settled action. b) This is a radical, complete, and violently word as in the ripping of clothes by force. 2) The circumcision of Christ is a transformation where the sinful old nature is killed and a new nature/heart is given to us. 2 Cor. 5:21 – Therefore, if anyone isin Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Rom. 6:6 – … knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. B. Our heart circumcision is demonstrated by our baptism, 12 – more on this next week. 1. Here we have a clear link between these two rites of initiation: circumcision in the Old Covenant and baptism in the New Covenant. 2. It is difficult to see the clear connection in English, but in the grammar of the original language the word baptism describes the action of the verb circumcised in v. 11. 3. Our baptism is a declaration that we are united with Christ in his death, but also in his resurrection. Rom. 6:1-4 – What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 4. Thus our baptism reflects a reality of the heart that is either present now or will be present in the future. {TRANSITION: because we are united to Christ we have line in and with him.} II. Our Life with Christ in the Triumph of the Cross, 13-15. A. The Colossians, you and I, and every one in the world are spiritually dead apart from Christ, 13a. Eph. 2:1-3 – And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. B. The death of Christ on the cross and his resurrection conquered death, both spiritual and physical, 13a – "he has made alive together with him." 1. This is paradoxical idea: death conquered death? a. The Puritan John Owen expresses this paradox well in his best-known book The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. b. This is exactly what happened at the cross. Jn. 12:23-24 – The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. Jn. 10:10b-11 – I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 2. Death is the result sin. c. God said to Adam from the very beginning that sin, which is disobedience to what God says, brings death. d. Throughout the history of God's people before the cross this notion that sin brings death was represented by the countless animal sacrifices that were killed to show what the one offering deserved. 1) But all those animal sacrifices were ineffective. 2) There was nothing that could be done to stop death. 3) And most important of all, there was nothing that could be done to stop eternal death, that is, eternal separation from the love of God. Ez. 18:20a – The soul who sins shall die. 3. So death, both physical and eternal, is the just payment for sin. 4. The cross is that payment. a. Christ bore the payment for all the death deserving sins of his people. 2 Cor. 5:21 – For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 1 Pt. 2:24 – who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. b. Because of the cross we can have life eternal Jn. 3:13-15 – No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. c. Because of the cross, at the coming of Jesus Christ even physical death will be done away with and we will be resurrected to live forever in our bodies. B. God has made us alive in Christ by doing two things: 1. He forgave us all our trespasses, 13b. b. Every last sin forgiven! 3) Every moment of anger and selfishness. Rom. 8:1 – There istherefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus…. c. We are made alive by the forgiveness of our transgressions against God. d. ALL our transgressions, all our sins, are forgiven in Jesus Christ. 1) That dark and shameful sin that you committed in the past and the guilt of it consumes you is forgiven in Jesus Christ. 2) That is why Horatio Spafford could say, even after losing his children in a shipwreck: "My sin – O the bliss of this glorious thought! – my sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more; praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul! It is well with my soul." 2. He destroyed all the accusations against us, 14a. a. Handwriting = certificate of debt where everything one owed or every wrong one did was listed. b. All the condemnation brought by the law, rightful condemnation, is wiped clean. Rom. 8:33-34 – Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who ishe who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. c. Nailed to the cross and charged to Christ is all that God had against you. Rom. 5:1-2 – Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. "Not what my hand have done can save my guilty soul; not what my toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole. Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God; not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my awful load. Thy work alone, O Christ, can ease this weight of sin; thy blood alone, O Lamb of God can give me peace within. `Tis he who saveth me, and freely pardon gives…" Horatius Bonar C. God didn't do that by just forgetting about them or throwing them away – he nailed them to the cross, 14b. 1. When a criminal was crucified, the crimes for which he was crucified would be nailed to the post of the cross – King of the Jews. a. There were no real accusations against him to be nailed on Jesus's cross. b. What was nailed to it was the charges against us. 2. These charges were taken our of the way so they no longer stand between us and God. D. Do you see the seriousness of sin in the cross? 1. The law of God is constantly pointing out your sins. b. It works as a list of crimes read by the prosecutor as he indicts the criminal. c. And every sin you ever committed is on that list 2. On the cross, God grabbed that list and nailed to the cross as the charges against his Son. a. He was charged with your sin. b. Every idle word, every evil thought, every wicked deed charged to Christ. "Who was the guilty who brought this upon thee? Alas, my treason, Jesus hath undo thee. `Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee: I crucified thee." Johann Heermann c. We crucified Jesus and we did it most willing with our sins. d. Think about that next time you are tempted to sin: it took the Lord of glory in the flesh nailed to the cross in order to atone, or cover your sin. III. Our Freedom with Christ Because of the Triumph of the Cross, 15-19. A. The cross conquered all rulers and authorities and exposed them for what they are: farces!, 15. "O come, thou Rod of Jesse, free thine own from Satan's tyranny…." 12th century Latin hymn 1. The cross, which seemed to be an instrument of defeat, was Christ's victory over his enemies. "For although in the cross there is nothing but curse, it was, nevertheless, swallowed up by the power of God in such a way, that the cross has put on, as it were, a new nature. For there is no tribunal so magnificent, no throne so stately, no show of triumph so distinguished, no chariot so elevated, as is the cross on which Christ has subdued death and the devil, the prince of death; nay more, has utterly trodden them under his feet." John Calvin 2. What God had promised Adam and Eve way back in the beginning of time is now accomplished at the cross: the serpent's head is crushed by the seed of the woman. 3. The cross became Jesus's triumphant chariot in which he made a public display of all his enemies and disarmed them. a. It is because of the cross that the accuser of the brethren no longer has the power to accuse. b. It is because of the cross that sin no longer has dominion over you. c. The cross has conquered the enemies that enslaved you and declared you free to obey God. "Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature's night; thine eye diffused a quick'ning ray; I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; my chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth, and followed thee." Charles Wesley B. The cross frees us from the tyranny of legalism, 16-19. 1. Legalism is any attempt to be made right with God by obedience to any standard. 2. More on this in the future, but for now see that the cross is all about grace. 3. God didn't have to do any of that for us. 4. It wasn't like he saw a bunch of good little boys and girls and decided that he would do something nice for them. 5. Paul makes this argument by reminding the Colossians that they were not part of God's people when he called them. a. They were uncircumcised. b. They were not part of God's covenant people. c. God hadn't promised them anything. d. Yet he gave them the cross. 6. God graciously forgave them in Jesus Christ – the very word for forgiveness here is built upon the word for grace! The world looks at the cross and see foolishness. The idea of a man dying for others so that they can be declared right with God? You must be very gullible to believe in that. But for us who believe the cross is the power of God unto salvation. Let me end with what Paul says about the cross in 1 Corinthians. "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.… For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.… we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." 1 Cor. 1:17-18, 21, 23-24 This is truly the power of the cross: the triumph of Christ over death, guilt, and Satan. Stuart Townend ends his hymn this way:
I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no power, no wisdom; but I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection. Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer; but this I know with all my heart – His wounds have paid my ransom.
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