The Cross has Power Over Sin - Colossians 2:13-15

Well, I remember Abby and my excitement, our third year of marriage when we were about to become first time homeowners were about to move from Houston, Texas up here to Kansas City, Missouri to continue my seminary journey. I had been in seminary for a couple of years online and was transitioning to the residential. And so we were excited. We packed up all of our possessions in a U-Haul and we started on our journey through Texas and Texas and and Texas. And then finally we got to Oklahoma and then Missouri and we were there. And so we were so excited to arrive to our home that we had purchased, but the when we when we had moved in, we discovered that our AC, our central AC unit, didn't work. Even though the inspection that we paid for said that it was fine, uh apparently it wasn't. And we didn't our home warranty didn't cover it and the inspection company didn't care. So we didn't have the money to fix it and we just instead decided the only thing that we can really do here is go to Home Depot and buy two window AC units because that's really all we could afford at the time and stick one in the kitchen area and one in the bedroom and hope for the best. Which if you've been living in Kansas City for a while, you know that's not going to cut it in like July and August, right? Two AC units and a thousand square foot home, even though it's a small home, it's just not going to work in the heat of summer. So we had just moved, uh, you know, across the country here thinking that our home would provide a sense of security and peace. only to find out that we quickly found out that since we couldn't pay for a new AC, our home was not a place of rest. It wasn't a place that we had hoped for. It wasn't a great first home experience to move into. And I mentioned that because that's what's happening in colossi. Jared read it for us earlier in colossians two, starting in verse 13, and these were people in coloss that they'd put their faith in Jesus, that what he had accomplished on the cross paid for their sin, and it gave them peace with God. They were secure, and yet some teachers had come in and had moved into philos colossa and said, hey, not so fast. You haven't experienced X, you haven't participated in in why you haven't done z Z. There's some work that you have to do to appease God's wrath. You're not okay. And that's a really disturbing thing when you think about it, that you think you're at peace, you think you have security with God, and then some people say, hey, maybe you're not. you haven't done, you won't have peace with God until you do A, B and C. And it would disturb their faith, these colossians, all these people who would then try to to do things to earn peace with God, to earn that security. And I know some of us might be sitting here this morning thinking, yeah, but Tyler, that's just like religion. That's what religion does. That's why I don't like it because it's this always do do do feel good about yourself. I have to think a certain way. I have to feel certain things. I have to participate in a certain place just to feel good about myself. Like I'm going to be enough. Well, I want to submit to you this morning that there's also a secular version of that. It's the same story. You just like strip out all the religious language uh and you get the same thing. And many of us are still on that same ladder that I have to do X. I have to do Y and Z to feel good at my about myself. I have to attain this financial wealth. I have to get security. I have to pursue fame and power and success. I have to climb ascend this corporate ladder that I'm working towards. I have to get notoriety and recognition. And so I will bow down to the gods of money and fame and notoriety and power that whatever I can do to feel good about myself at the end of the day. And it's the same ladder. You just posted it on a different wall. There's a religious wall in the secular wall, but it's the same pursuit. and it's this oppressive system, right? And all of us fall prey to it. We're you're never okay under that system. You just have to relentlessly chase security and peace, and yet it's so attractive to us. It just ropes us in. Why does this oppressive system just have so much force on our lives? Well, I think it derives its power from the internal sense that we all have that we're not okay, that we're not enough. We feel something's wrong with us and I have to do something to make me feel good. I have to do something to make me feel okay. So when someone comes along and they said, hey, I got this, you know, you're actually not okay. And I've got this book seven habits to be this super awesome trimegga awesome person, right? And just read my book, or I've got these atomic habits that'll just explode your efficiency, so just read the book and we're like, okay, yeah, I got it. Like and we just fall prey to the system again. We go down that same path to make ourselves feel better. But it's interesting what the scriptures will do. for you to find security and peace, Paul's writing the colossians, and he's going to say, I'm not going to point you to what you must do. I'm going to point you to what's been done. and that's what he tells the colossians to fix your eyes on what God has done for you. So let's turn to Colossians chapter two. You can find it on page nine84 in the house Bible underneath the seat there in front of you if you want to grab one of those Bibles. It's on page nine eight4, we'll have it on the screen behind me as well. Colossians two, starting in verse 13. Let's pray and then we'll jump into it. Lord, we thank you that you've gathered us to this time and this place to worship you as we've already done through singing and now through your word. and so I pray, lord, that you would speak to us this morning show us more of who you are and what you've done, and if you would where you're sitting, just take a moment and pray for yourself that God would speak to you this morning that it would be encouraging and challenging to you. Take a moment to do that. In the next if you would, pray for someone around you to your left or right, maybe it's a sp spouse, a family member, a friend that God would speak to them and that it would be clear and helpful. And lastly if you would pray for me that God would speak through me with clarity and accuracy and boldness. Oh Father, we love you and we trust you. We ask that you would use this time for your glory and for our good. We pray that in Christ's name. Amen. So Paul looks at the colossians and he's writing this letter and he gives in verse 13 of chapter 2 a bleak diagnosis. Colossians 23. He says, and you who were dead. So if you're sitting here this morning and you feel like something's wrong with your life today, it's because something is is profoundly wrong. You don't just need a mile mild adjustment. You don't just need a behavioral tweak. The Bible says that you are dead. That's what it says. That's the language it uses, and that's our first point this morning. Apart from Christ, you are dead. We are dead in our sins apart from Christ. It's interesting. I remember uh going to my first funeral and I was uh 14 years old. I was a freshman in high school. and the boy that had died, I had known since elementary school, not real close with, but had known him. And I remember going to this funeral and 14 years old, first time I've gone to a funeral before and seeing him in the casket and he's motionless, never seen him like that. He's cold. All the color has washed out of his face. And I remember looking at him and going, he's my hype. He's about my build. We've got similar features. And it was a horrible accident. He had struggled with asthma and was at school and didn't have his inhaler with him. And I remember thinking, I struggled with asthma and I don't have my inhaler at school either. And I remember standing there and making a connection with him and just thinking, that could be me. Like in this moment, that could have been my experience. I could be laying in that casket. And that's what Paul does here when he describes our spiritual state. He says, I want you to make a connection. How does the Bible describe where we are spiritually apart from Christ? Go to a morgue, look at those bodies, the lifeless body and make a connection. We lack power to get security and peace in the same way a dead body lacks the power to rise. And when Paul explains the two aspects of our spiritual deadness in verse 13, he says two things. He says you were dead in your trespasses. That's the first one and in the uncircumcision of your flesh. So Paul says this diagnosis of death it was our doing. We did this to ourselves. This condition was created by our choices that's the trespasses, and by our nature. He says in your trespasses, so to trespass, what is that? That is the consciously and deliberately go where you were not meant to that you decided I'm going to cross a boundary that I was not meant to cross. I went somewhere that I wasn't designed to go. but then he talks about the uncircumcision of your flesh. What does that mean? We don't use that word very often and so he said he's saying that your dead not just from your activity. That was your trespasses, your conscious decisions, but also your identity. That's the uncircumcision, not just by your decisions, but by your very nature is what he's saying. So in the Old Testament, circumcision is this outward sign of a covenant relationship between the Jewish people and God. And it wasn't brought about by anything that you had to do. Boys were circumcised on the eighth day. It was something that was just conferred on them by virtue of birth. So you enter into this covenant with God, and you have all the rights and all the privileges of being part of the Jewish people by virtue of birth. So nothing you did. It's not by virtue of what you've done. So when Paul says, hey, you were dead in your trespasses, that's your lack of obedience to God, all those conscious decisions that you made that I'm not going to obey him, I'm moving further away from him, and the uncircumcision of your flesh. That's over here, your lack of identity, your lack of association with God, your lack of being in relationship with him, that you came in the birth apart from him, that you're not connected. It's interesting. When I was before we moved here, when I was a youth pastor in Houston, I heard a high school student talking about with with another high school student at a Bible study, what it was like to be right with God. What would it was like to be in a right relationship with God. And he said something to the effect of uh well, we have to cut out our dead heart and put in a living heart of flesh. We cut out a dead heart and we put in a a warm heart. And he was referencing a great Old Testament passage about the circumcision of the heart, the cutting of the heart. I looked at him and I said, hey, that's right, man. That's so good. But let me help you out just a little bit. The act is right. You said cutting out that dead heart and putting in a live one. The act is right. The actor is wrong. You said we. He said we have to cut that out. And that's not true. It must be done for us and it must be done to us. We have no more power to make ourselves alive than Lazarus did to walk out of that grave. Some one else must act upon us, and that is what God has done. It says and you verse 13, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncirc uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him. That's the good news of the gospel that's great news. God made us alive together with Christ and that's our second point this morning. God made you alive together with him. He acted upon you, and he did it together with Christ, so that your intimate vital union with him, your closeness with Jesus moves you from death into life by his power, right? What you could not do God did for you. So let me uh geek out for a minute or Greek out would be more appropriate. uh and stick with me. We Brock's done an excellent job of helping me. I've got an iPad up here and he's gonna show you on the screen behind me. We've got some words here. Let's see if we can get that. There we go. Okay. So and I can't take credit for this. A pastor friend helped me to see all of this, but let me just point something out to you. This is the phrase that I just said. most of us don't recognize this, but without getting into any of the details, let me just show you this right here. We have two words or we have this long word and then three short words, this word right here is the word life, and then this word next is the wordm made, so be made alive. And this ending here, these three letters, Greek letters, is is yo. This is how we would say it in Texas, yaw, okay? So Greek has a yaw, okay? Yaw were made alive. And then this prefix over here at the beginning is together with him. So y'all were made alive together with him. And then we've got three words after that, and this word is yah. It's the words suit, the next word issoon that's with, and the last one ass, that's him. so this is yaw with him. You were made alive together with him yaw with him. This entire th these three words, they're entirely unnecessary, but Paul wants to drive the point. You were made alive together with him, y'all with him. It's altether the first word doesn't even have any spaces between it. Paul is so excited to share it with us. He wants to emphasize it. I want you to know that you've been made alive together. It's your union with Jesus that's brought you into life. You could not do it. God has done it for you. You're intimately tied together with Christ. Your life is together with him. There's not even any space between the words. So let me ask you a question. We have any Muppets fans in the room. Okay, some parents feel free to raise your hands? Seems like an odd question right after that. Stay with me, okay? So, if you've seen the Muppets, one of the recent more recent movies, uh has there's an evil Kermit, an evil Kermit that that wants to take over the world and he puts the other the good Kermit in prison locked away. No one knows that this evil Kermit has this massive plan to take over the world to be the greatest. He wants to be known as the greatest criminal on earth. And his sidekick that's helping the evil Kermit is Ricky Gervis. Right. Who thinks that they' partners, he thinks like they're he's the assistant regional manager instead of the assistant to the regional manager. And so, but Kermit, this evil Kermit sees him as just a psychic. So when the evil Kermit is talking about his name going down in history as one of the greatest thiefs of all time, Ricky Gervis is like, oh, and and my name too, you mean our names, right? Both of ours. And the evil Kermit, he's got a different voice in the regular Kermit. He says, of course, my name first space bar space bar space bar your name. And what he's telling is sidekick, Ricky Gervais is, yeah, I want some space between us, right? I'm kind of the greatest thing and you're helping me get there. but there's some space between us. When God brought Jesus to life, he looks at you and there's no space bar. There's no space between you. You're made alive together with him. You're intimately tied to the one who has power over sin. How did he do that? It says in verse 13, having forgiven us all our trespasses, it was his grace and his mercy that were extended to us in Christ in him, not something we earned. It says he forgave us all our trespasses every single little one did you catch that word all? I thought of it this way this week. If I were to to hand you on a hot Kansas City day, a glass of refreshing ice water. You would welcome it, right? You'd be like oh, this is so great. This is exactly what I needed. It's such a hot day. This is so refreshing. But then at the last minute, I put a big cow paddy dung in there, right? You'd be like, ah, I'm sorry, I don't want this anymore. And then I'd be like, oh, yeah, you know what? I put too many chunks in there. Let me get those chunks back out for you. And then I give you back the cold ice water. You'd be like, no, that's not how this works. It's still contaminated, right? I'm not going to drink this. Oh, but I got all the chunks out. You still wouldn't want it. You'd say that's that's polluted. You contaminated the whole thing. In order to be enjoyed, you need water that's completely clean. That's what God has done. Says he's forgiven all the trespasses. He took every little trespass, not just your big ones, but even the littlest, saddest, tiniest ones that you forgot about moments after you did you may not have even been conscious in the moment that it was sin and rebellion against God. He says, I know them all. I've seen them all, and I'm forgiving them all. I'm taking them away. all of them. How did he do that? Verse 14 it says by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he said aside, nailing it to the cross. that word record, look at that in verse 14 record of debt that word record literally means hand and written, so in the Greco Roman world, if you incurred a debt, you would write it out in your own hand and then sign the bottom sheet of that paper. So if someone were to then take you to court to call you and say call you at accountability, they would show this document with your handwriting and your signature, and they would act as a paper trail, you know, of of what youreed to what you've done. He says all of us have this record of debt. We knew the good we ought to do, and we didn't do it. All of us have a record of debt that it says stood against us. Some of your translations they might also say that record was hostile to you, that it was hostile to us. That means that your record condemns you that it's the evidence in that courtroom that's standing hostile against you. That's the thing that's coming at you. It's your own record. your record condemns you. I was thinking about a funny example of it this week. I remember with my sons, there's been a couple occasions of this, where I'm in the living room and Titus will be having a quiet time. He's my six-year-old son, kind of a quiet nap time in our room. And then my fourearold Ezekielzek, he's in his room and he's taking a real nap. Titus to just kind of do it his quiet time. And I was sitting there one time and he he's Titus I heard yell out, Zeke hit me. And I was like, how could he hit you if you're in our room and he's in his room? Silence. Oh okay. What happened? You wanted to condemn your brother and you brought it against the judge, me, and you found that you're also under sin and condemnation, right? And you're deserving of my wrath. And the Bible says that all of us stand with this record of debt against us, with its legal demands, it's hostile against us. That's why it's hostile because it's our record, and yet Jesus takes that document, that record of debt, and it says he canceled it. Look at the end of verse 14. It says this he set aside, nailing it to the cross. That phrase set aside it literally means to lift up and to carry out. He lifts it up and he carries it out back then if a debt was paid, they would take that legal document that I was talking about and they would put a big X over it. They would cross it out. And he looks at that record and he picks it up and he moves it out of the room. And then what did he do? It says he nailed it to the cross. So last summer, I was preaching at a at a high school camp, and after a few days of preaching, it was five days for the camp, uh a few days after a high school student comes up to me, and he says, I just can't, you know, you've been you've been talking a lot about how Jesus forgives us. You keep talking about how our sins are paid for if we just trust in Jesus, but but you don't know what I've done. And I just I just can't look at all that I've done and think that God just dismisses it. And I told him, you're right. God doesn't just dismiss it. He deals with it. He paid for it. He paid for it at the cross. and the wages of sin is death, and we could not pay that wage. So he stepped in. Jesus steps into that divine courtroom, and he interposes his precious blood, so that God could maintain a standard of justice that will not look upon sin, and yet he'll also be the justifier for the sinner. In modern society, if someone trespasses on your property, what happens, you have every right to take them to court, and they can be punished for their crimes. and Jesus says, I see all your trespasses. I see Tyler's trespasses. I see all your sins that record stands in the divine court room hostile against you, and yet I'm going to pay for them. so I can cancel out your trespasses and I get you. I get to redeem you into my family. Jesus is in the business of canceling sin so that he can redeem and save people, that he can bring them into the family of God, not by virtue of anything you've done. So the question is, how do we know that that payment was sufficient, right? Like if I go to if any of us goes to a restaurant and we order drinks and food and and we enjoy that together and then a bill comes down And I go, uh-oh, I'm going to run for the door. They can either get up and try to stop me or they're going to be really sad and really frustrated with me that I just got out of here without paying for my bill. But what will make them satisfied with me? What will bring my enjoyment to fulfillment for them when I pay my debt, when I pay for what I owe, how do we know that Jesus' payment for our sin was sufficient? Because the grave could not hold him. He paid for it in full and then he rose from the grave. verse 15 says, and he disarmed the rulers and the authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them and him. Those are these are the spiritual powers that the colossians thought I have to appeal to them to feel right. I have to to do something to feel justified so that I don't feel judged. but Paul is saying, hey, no, Jesus is superior to those forces. He's triumphed over them. That's our third point. Christ has triumphed over sin and Satan, but Satan often was just disturb us by reminding us of our failures. He accuses us with the truth of our past. He doesn't have to lie to you all the time. He can tell you what's true and he'll warp it and he'll twist it and he'll dig it into you. You said this you did that this was done to you. You always do this, you always think in that that way and he shames us with our own legal record of all the debt we've incurred, and it's with that document of condemnation that he wants to destroy us. That he's a he's a roaring lion seeking to devour and steal and destroy. It's like he takes the role of a lawyer that's accusing you, but then he's also going to take the role of an executioner that he's ready to cut you off from the author of life. that he wants to deny that there's any life there. There's any hope there, and what Jesus does is he steps into that divine court room and he brings he takes that certificate of your debt and he puts a cross over it. He says my cross paid for this. My cross has power over your sin and then he takes that document and he throws it out of the room. And then he walks out over to that that executioner and he knocks the ax out of his hand. He says, not with my child. That that record of debt's been paid for. That's my son. That's my daughter. They're a part of my family. You have no right to accuse them or execute them. There's no legal record that stands against them anymore. It's paid. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and then verse 15 says he disarmed the rulers and the authorities. No one gets to stand in spiritual judgment over you. It's done. It says that he put them to open shame by triumphing over them. a triumph was a parade in those days. If you've seen gladiator, you've got a good image of this. It's like when a Roman general or a king has won this great victory over the enemy, he would return to his kingdom with a huge celebration and this amazing parade. and the defeated king would be paraded in the very back of the caravan, usually will always in chains, usually stripped of everything that he had been wearing to ridicule and mock and embarrass him. And it's this powerful demonstration showing everyone in the kingdom that who you once feared is now powerless over you, and the crowd would cheer as their champion, their conquering king rode in a magnificent chariot, and the power of their once feared enemy was broken. That's the imagery that Paul calls to mind here when he says that Christ triumphed over the enemy enemy, when they crucified Christ on an open road, it was meant to be the ultimate show of shame and embarrassment and Paul says no no no that's his triumph that the universe is converging on this moment where Jesus is on that cross disarming the rulers and authorities over every one for all time, and when he rose from the grave, he rose in power and in triumph, and now the power of your sin is broken. That's good news, right? And so, you know, we've been going through the series. We're in the second week and we've been last week Rustin showed a video, a beautiful video of Rebecca sharing her testimony, and this week we've got another video. And I just want to show you the power that this has. I want to show you what this looks like in Patrick's life. Patrick is a member here and just shares a beautiful short testimony of what God has done in his life. So let's get that video plane. My name is Patrick and I'm gonna share with you how the cross has power over my sin. On and off my entire adult life, I'd had problems with with drinking a little heavier at times than others, uh, but it was always a fairly regular thing. and then about five years ago, I was having some marital issues, um struggling a lot. And that kind of led me to being a daily drinker for the last five years or so, five or six years up until last summer, um when I kind of started slowing down, I was I felt very convicted um about the drinking and how it had such a high priority in my life. I knew I needed a change and um so I tried several times on my own. um and I would, uh, you know, I would come to God with that. um but then I would always I wouldn't leave it at the foot of the cross. I I'd take it back with me and try and do it in my own power and uh realize that that was not working. And I needed to do something different. um and that's when I realized that a complete surrender, um to that sin, that that surrender to God, uh to really take care of that problem for me instead of trying to do it my own power, um was where the key was for me. And then second Corinthians 12, uh, when Paul's talking about the the thorn in his flesh and he he asked God to take it from him. And I mean, it's a guy who's been through all kinds of stuff, right? Sh shipwrecks and he's been beaten and stoned and uh so so it occur it seems to me like this has got to be a fairly big deal and he's got to be miserable for for him to be begging God to take this thorn from his flesh, the thorn in his flesh from him. But God doesn't do it. What Jesus tells him is, my grace is sufficient for you for in weakness, my power is made perfect. and it's showing that weakness where I was actually able to let the power of Christ rest on me to really take that um that need for something else. um and sort of turn it into more of a need, more of a thirst for Jesus. So I've been sober now for about six months, uh 176 days and I've I've noticed a huge difference in my relationships with my family, how I care for others instead of being completely selfish, and only being concerned with uh with myself. So, if you feel like you are stuck, uh, just spinning your wheels, doesn't have to be addiction, it can be any sin. Um, I can tell you what what worked for me was complete surrender, taking it to the foot of the cross and leaving it there. and uh letting God handle it. So in that in that moment of surrender, uh after you've actually turned it over to God, uh, that's where you can find that the cross has power over sin. Wasn't that amazing? Patrick is living in peace and security because of what Christ has accomplished. And you, he gets to say what Romans eight says, who will bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justified me. No power gets to separate me from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus our Lord, because what I was powerless to do, God has done for me. Christ has triumphed over the power of sin. His righteous standard has been met, his wrath appeased, his law satisfied my debt, our debt paid, trespasses, cancelled, Satan defeated, sin broken powerless it's done, right? So Paul looks at the colossians and he's going to say later because of what Jesus has done, don't let anyone disqualify you. Don't let a single voice into your mind that tells you that you're not okay. Don't let a voice of doubt diminish the power of your conquering king. He paid it all so that you can have peace. You have security in him. You can have confidence because you link arms in the parade of your conquering king. because Christ has triumphed over sin, we can now live differently in at least three different ways. Let me go through this real quick with us as we wrap up three ways. First, recognize the accusations. when thoughts of unworthiness just flood your mind, identify them for what they are. They're the accusations of a defeated enemy, a powerless ridiculed enemy, those whispers that you're not enough, those are just the desperate attempts of a defeated enemy. And so this week, just take a few minutes and actually write down, this is really helpful. What what makes you feel unworthy? Take a moment and then just cross it out and you speak the truth that when the enemy comes to rattle your confidence, you send him to your conquering king and you say, my sin, this thing that makes me feel unworthy, it's paid for by the cross of Christ. Second, remember your identity that we don't climb ladders in the secular world or in the religious world to earn something to to make us feel worthy. You don't need to strive to earn something that you've already that you already have. Instead of constantly reaching for security, you remind yourself daily of who you are in Christ, that you're alive together with him with no space between you. You can even get real specific. create a time this week to just thank God, thank Christ for his work and say every morning, I am alive together with him, just a simple phrase to start your morning. How would that change your day? And when the doubt creeps in, maybe try memorizing and reciting colossians 2 13 15. What powerful words to be the foundation of our identity in Christ. and then lastly, rejoice in community that we're no longer trying to find a way to make ourselves okay. because Christ has declared that his life, his death, and resurrection is enough, so I don't have to be, and I know if I try, I won't be enough, so we're liberated from the power of sin and set free to be a blessing to others. If you're not in a life group, join a life group. This is a great time to join one. We would love to get you connected when you gather with believers, make it your mission to remind one another of your security and your peace and your identity in Christ. We live as rescue children in the family of God, not as abandoned kids trying to get back in. And so I want to call us as we finish out this sermon to remember that AC unit that I mentioned at the very beginning that I that we couldn't pay for. Well, after about a year of struggling with those two small window units and those not cutting it, a check arrived in the mail from a friend of ours that paid for the AC a new AC unit in full. We couldn't pay for it ourselves, but someone could, and friends, we can't pay for our sins, but Christ can't. And that's what he came to do. Christ paid for our home with him, a secure and peaceful home. He paid for our future so we can rest in security and peace. And so when we struggle with that, you can say, my sin has been paid at the cross of Christ. It's paid. Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you for gathering us to this time of this place to worship you to be all to be reminded of all the good news that we have in Christ, that when we were trespassing, that we were going places we shouldn't have gone, and when we were separated from you, you came into our world, into the wreckage and the mess and the chaos of our lives to pull us out of it, to rescue us, to redeem us to bring us from death into life, not to take us from bad people into good people, but to take us from from death into life. And so, Lord, I pray that we would be people that are rooted and grounded in that truth, that when the enemy comes and when accusations come, we have confidence that the cross of Christ has paid for our record of debt that's once stood against us, and the power of sin has been broken. We thank you, lord, and we pray all these things in Christ's name. Amen.