18 June 2023 PM – Colossians 2:11-15 – Col23 – Scott Childs
Introduction: Some people don’t want to accept their need for change. The story is told of a doctor who told a man that he must give up eating red meat, so he stopped putting tomato sauce on his hamburgers.
For many religious people, their idea of salvation is no more transforming than what that man did. However, when Christ truly saves a person, He transforms the person completely.
Transition: Just, what does Christ do for a sinner at salvation? In our text this evening, Paul identifies several marvellous things that Christ does for the sinner at salvation.
1. Christ unites the sinner with Himself (v.11-12)
a. First, consider the cultural background of this.
1) Many of the believers in Colossi were Gentiles. For centuries, Jews had despised all Gentiles as inferior people. One of the identifying marks of a Jew was his circumcision.
2) Paul was refuting a false teaching among some professing Jewish believers that a person must be circumcised before he could become a Christian.
b. Look now at the pictures Paul gives.
1) The first picture is that of spiritual circumcision (v.11).
a) Its character: It was not a physical cutting, but a spiritual event.
b) Its action: It put off the sins of the flesh.
c) Its author: Christ performed it on the sinner.
2) The second picture is that of baptism (v.12).
a) I believe that Peter Pett was right who said, “The primary baptism in mind here is the ‘spiritual baptism’ described in 1Co 12:13.”
b) If this was water baptism, then baptism would be an essential part of salvation. This would contradict multitudes of verses that do not include baptism with salvation.
c) Spiritual baptism takes place the moment a sinner repents and trusts Christ. He is identified with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. This takes place through faith.
3) At salvation, Christ cut away the sins of the flesh and united us together with His death and resurrection to new life.
2. Christ gives the sinner new life (v.13-14)
a. The sinner had major problems.
1) He was spiritually dead. Turn to Ephesians 2:1-3. A physically dead person lacks the life that only God can give. Likewise, a spiritually dead sinner lacks the spiritual life that only God can give. God ALONE is the giver of all life.
a) All who pretend to be spiritually alive, but are not, continue to decay spiritually. Without life from God, decay is inevitable.
b) Until you ask Christ to give you new life, you will remain dead in your sins.
2) The Gentile sinner was uncircumcised. Though circumcision never saved anyone, in the eyes of a Jew, nothing sort of circumcision could remove a Gentle’s curse.
a) Some religions today teach that infant baptism in the New Testament replaced Old Testament circumcision. The Bible does NOT support that belief. Infant baptism is a pagan ritual, not a Christian rite.
c) Though circumcision did bring a person into the Jewish family, it never saved any person from hell.
b. Christ transformed the repentant sinner’s life.
Here is where it gets good!
1) Christ gave him spiritual life. The phrase “quickened together with him” means that he is made alive together with Christ. Just as Christ came back to life after paying for our sin, so He is able to make the repentant believer alive together with Him.
a) This person had been dead in his sins.
b) He was not physically circumcised.
c) If you have repented and trusted Christ to save your soul, He has raised you to life with Him.
The good gets even better!
2) He forgave all his sins.
a) To “forgive” is to grant cleanings freely. Such forgiveness restores the sinner to right standing with God. He forgave ALL our transgressions. Christ forgave every single sin. How did Christ do this for us?
b) God has a handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us. I do not believe this speaks of the OT Law, because Christ did not blot out the Law. Instead, this God’s handwritten list of our law offences: every sin, every filthy thought, every angry word, every lust, and every evil of any kind committed by the sinner. God has a handwritten list for every sinner. That is a frightful reality. I believe this will be one of the books God opens at the final Judgment (Revelation 20:12).
c) Christ blotted out God’s handwritten list of the repentant sinner’s offences. The word translated “blotted out” means wipe away, to erase completely, or to obliterate. That is awesome!
d) He took that list of offences out from between him and God.
e) He nailed the list of offences to the cross. Somehow, Christ erased ALL of our sins, past, present and even future sins. He took them out from between us and God. He nailed the entire list to the cross.
f) When Satan accuses the believer, Jesus simply points to the cross, where He made propitiation for our sins. (1 John 2:1-2) “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.“
If Christ has saved you, that ought to make you shout for joy and praise Him!
3. Christ conquered the sinner’s enemies (v.15)
a. Christ spoiled his spiritual enemies.
1) Those satanic principalities and powers that we saw in Colossians 1:16; 2:10 and here have lost their grip on the believer. Cf., Ephesians 6:12.
2) Christ plundered those enemies. Christ took the repentant sinner from the grip of these satanic forces. They no longer control us (1 John 4:4). Wearing our spiritual armour listed in Ephesians 6:10-18 is essentially wearing the reality of Colossians 2:13-15. Meditate on that!
b. Christ shamed those wicked enemies.
1) Christ made a public example of them openly. He exhibited them. He mocked them publicly before the entire universe. He put them to open shame.
2) John Eadie explains, “The allusion is plainly to the triumph which is celebrated after a battle. His spiritual foes, on being vanquished, were exhibited as a public spectacle.”
3) Though the devil can never get back a true believer, he is determined to do his best to keep that believer from glorifying Christ. He hates Christ and the believer.
4) Christ celebrated a triumph over them. Eadie again states, “The truth expressed is, that there has been complete and irretrievable subjugation.” Perhaps the triumph celebration took place in heaven. Since then, the devil has been a defeated foe awaiting Judgment Day.
Conclusion: Has Christ’s salvation transformed your life? Has He given you eternal life? Has He forgiven all your trespasses? Has He blotted out your sins? If so, praise and thank Him. Then, make it your priority to live for His glory.
Salvation is not about rites and rituals; it is about repentance and receiving what Christ has already done. If you have not yet been forgiven, you can be if you will surrender.
