Born Again- Pt 2

Last Lord’s Day, as you recall,
we left off with mankind at a low ebb. Actually, we left off with
mankind at rock bottom. Because Paul explained that we
were, past tense, dead. Spiritually dead. And that sounds
so terrible. Dead. And yet the passage itself
is not a message of gloom and doom. The main thought of the
verses actually is that God made us alive. But in our faithfulness
to the text, we knew that we must consider the context of
this wonderful statement that God made us alive. And the context
of being made alive is that we were dead. So, like a vigorous
hike to a mountaintop, we know that we’re headed for a fantastic
vista. He made us alive. But at the
moment, we’re in a dark forest. That’s how I picture it. The
Apostle Paul has not just randomly battered the Colossian church
with this dreadful news, but they were dead. He is in the
midst actually providing them objective measuring tools by
which they can examine their respective professions of faith. Each believer is to examine his
or her profession of faith by, among other criteria, the five
standards that Paul discusses here in chapter two. We’ve already
considered three of these examination points, and we’re in the midst
of the fourth evaluation mark. We learned first, or rather we
were reminded, that the Christian is to be discerning, verses four
and five, that no one would be able to delude us with persuasive
arguments. such as are commonplace in the
world at every point of history. We also observed, secondly, in
verses 6 and 7, that any Christian person is supposed to be steadfast,
solid in his or her faith, not wishy-washy, not vacillating,
but firm and confident in that faith. As Paul puts it, as we
have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, we are to walk in him. If we’ve been rooted and established
in our faith, it ought to be obvious to all in the way that
we live our lives. Thirdly, the third examination
point, verses eight through 12, is that as believers, we are
to be cautious. not only discerning once we see
a problem, but cautious, wary of those who would take us captive,
as Paul talks, take us captive through philosophy and empty
deception. There is a myriad of nonsense
out there. And the Christian would do well
to be very wary, cautious. And that brings us to our present
passage and to Paul’s fourth examination point. The fourth
examination point is the regeneration to be enjoyed. If we are believers
in Jesus Christ, it is only because God has made us alive through
the sheer good grace and mercy of God. And our response to this
amazing blessing is simply to rest peaceably in it, to enjoy
it. We didn’t earn this gift, nor
can we ever pay God back for it. Ours now is simply to enjoy
it. And that’s where we left off
right here in verses 13 and 14. Let’s review Paul’s fourth point
here in its entirety, Colossians 2 verses 13 through 14. When you were dead in your transgressions
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together
with him. having forgiven us all our transgressions,
having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees
against us, which was hostile to us, and he has taken it out
of the way, having nailed it to the cross. As I mentioned a moment ago in
those, these two particular verses, Paul is actually in the midst
of providing believers a fourth examination standard. And we
identified this fourth standard as the regeneration to be enjoyed. That is the mountain peak vista,
if you will. That is the view that we get
to enjoy, we get to savor as believers once we reach the summit. Our rebirth in Christ ought to
be a source of pure joy, spiritual enjoyment, because whereas we
were dead, now God has made us alive. And all we can really
do is enjoy it. So Paul’s main point of these
two verses is that God has made us alive. We’ve been restored
to life, spiritual life, regenerated, born again. But there is context
to this incredible truth. There was a path and a process
to enjoying that magnificent view. And so we left off in the lowest
of lows last week. That’s where we are in this passage. Because according to Paul’s description
in the backdrop of our spiritual restoration, he reminds his readers
of the occasion of our regeneration, that we were dead. Spiritually
speaking, we were dead in our transgressions. And the first
thing that he tells us in this passage is just that. We were dead. That was, as we
referred to it, the occasion of our regeneration. Now, the
first thing that we did is to work through this question. Paul,
what do you mean dead? What do you mean by that? Because
the Colossian Christians, just as sure as you and I are sitting
here this morning, the Colossian Christians were very much alive
physically. We saw there that there is no
ambiguity to Paul’s words. Dead means dead. It is the cessation
of life where a person no longer possesses any sensibility as
a living person. They’re unable to be stirred,
unable to be awakened, influenced, prompted to do a single thing. Such a person is completely unable
to respond to any external stimuli. So just as surely as the Colossians
did, we wondered, Paul, dead in what sense? We quickly discovered
that Paul wasn’t talking at all about physical death, really
at all. When he tells us that God made
us alive, he isn’t referring to our initial birth, that God
took something that was not alive and gave life to it. Nor, as
we discovered, can he simply be referring to our physical
death, being restored in that sense to physical life. Nor is
he referring to the terrible threat of impending death, such
as Adam and Eve brought on humanity. The death of which Paul speaks was indeed a result of God’s
curse on mankind because of Adam’s sin, but it was far worse than
physical death. The death of which Paul speaks
was brought about, he says, because of sin. You were dead in your
transgressions, he says. We completely missed the mark.
We fell off the path of righteousness entirely. And honestly, we fell
over the cliff to our death on the rocks below. In order to
drive this point home, Paul uses an illustration here, that of
circumcision, to point back to our pre-salvation state, our
ungodly condition of alienation from God. So that death, this deadness
of which Paul speaks, is no other than spiritual death. It’s a
reference to the doctrine of original sin, to human depravity. Humanity now was not only insensible
to their lost condition. We had no fellowship with God
whatsoever. We had no desire to remedy that
condition or to reach out or respond even to God. We were dead in the worst possible
sense. We were spiritually dead. And
that’s as bad as things can get. So in Paul’s presentation of
the backdrop of our spiritual restoration, he reminds us of
the occasion of our regeneration, that we were dead, spiritually
dead in our transgressions. And while we left off there last
week, that was a very temporary decision on my part. I made that
decision from expedience. I knew that we couldn’t and maybe
even shouldn’t consider the entire passage at once. All that to
say that while we left off there last week dead in our transgressions,
God certainly didn’t leave us there. So note there at the end
of verse 13, at the end of 13, verse 13, He comes to another element of
this backdrop of our spiritual restoration. Not only the occasion
of our regeneration, but the commencement, the beginning of
our regeneration. He gives us some hopeful news.
And it just is a simple statement, having forgiven us all our transgressions. He made us alive together with
him, having forgiven all our transgressions. there at the
end of verse 13, he sets forth this second aspect of this backdrop
of our spiritual restoration. It’s the commencement of our
regeneration, and it just shows that God did not leave humanity
there in its lost condition. In fact, do you realize that
immediately with Adam and Eve, even in God’s articulation of
his curse against First of all, the devil, the snake, his curse
of the woman, his curse of the man, not only did God not destroy
them all on the spot, which would have been justified to do, he
gives them the hope of redemption. He gives Adam and Eve the hope
of redemption. He doesn’t leave them there in
their spiritually dead condition. In his infinite mercy, he forecasts
for them a Redeemer. Embedded in his curse of the
serpent is this veiled promise. He shall bruise you on the head
and you shall bruise him on the heel. God is speaking there of
a coming Redeemer who would be hurt by the serpent, the devil,
and he would be bruised on his heel. But ultimately he, that
is Christ, would bruise the serpent’s head. He would destroy him. Paul speaks of the fulfillment
of that prophecy. in Romans 16, 20, and there what
he’s doing is comforting the Roman believers by saying that
the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. Paul is referencing Genesis 3,
15 right there, pointing out the truth that the Redeemer,
the God of righteousness and peace, would triumph over sin
and death. Jesus Christ triumphed over Satan
in his resurrection from the dead, so that the declaration
of Hosea 13, 14 can be shouted, oh death, where is your victory?
Oh death, where is your sting? That victory is Christ’s resurrection. Well, that’s where we left off,
dead in our transgressions, and yet ultimately, Paul tells us
somehow God made us alive, but how? And here at the end of verse
13, he begins to answer that very question. Paul tells us
that he forgave us. Or as Paul says, that having
forgiven all our transgressions. How did God make us alive? He
forgave us. This is not the only word or
even the most frequently used word for forgiveness, This word
karitsumai is really a dynamic word. It has a lot of subtle
nuances to it. So that context is really important
for determining its specific meaning. Just listen. It can
have the sense of divine mercy as it does in Luke 7 21. He gave sight to many who were
blind. He gave magnanimously. It can
have a sense of God’s magnanimous grace such as it does in Philippians
2 verse 9. spoken there of Christ that God
highly exalted him and bestowed upon him the name which is above
every name. That was God’s gift to Christ. It can have a rather cold sense,
as in the handing over of a prisoner, a giving in a sense, as it does
twice in Acts chapter 25 of Paul, It can have the sense of giving
with absolutely no strings attached, as it does in Romans 8 32. How
will he not also freely give us all things? But the word also
clearly is used in the sense of a forgiveness of a transgression
of people towards each other. and of God forgiving sinners,
as it does here. This is exactly how it’s used
in Ephesians 4.32. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted,
forgiving each other, just as God has also forgiven you. And so we’re not surprised to
see Paul use this word here of God’s gracious, magnanimous act
of granting sinners forgiveness. I want you to observe the form
of this verb. It’s very important. The word,
just like the words being dead at the beginning of the verse,
it’s a subordinate point. Translated literally, it would
go like this. He made you alive, having forgiven
all your transgressions. The forgiveness came first. The
enlivening followed. What that communicates to us
is that God would not enliven us until our sins were forgiven. So now Paul tells us a second
thing that was true. Before he made us alive, not
only one, were we dead in our transgressions, but two, that
he had forgiven us all our transgressions, and then he made us alive. Before God made us alive, we
were dead, but he forgave us. There were commentators who tried
to explain these two things as contemporaneous with the enlivening. But they happened at the same time.
It’s not what the plain language of this text communicates. Just
as we were dead prior to being made alive, we were forgiven
prior to being made alive. Paul presents forgiveness as
a preliminary act before enlivening the dead sinner. The form of
the verb here indicates an action that has been completed in the
past prior to restoring our life. Our being dead was the result
of our sinfulness. And unless that sin is forgiven,
we must remain spiritually dead. You may remember the story of
the prodigal son. The prodigal son does his thing.
He goes off, spends his father’s inheritance, comes to the end
of himself, repents of his sin, and returns to his father with
a very well-written speech. And he begins to utter this speech
to his father who had run to greet him. And his father cuts
him short, wouldn’t even let him finish his speech. He immediately
begins to lavish his son with all the blessings of sonship.
He forgave him. The older brother, you remember,
didn’t like that so much and put up a fit. And the father’s
explanation to him was this, this brother of yours was dead. and has begun to live. He began
to live because the Father forgave him and restored him. But again, we have to pause and
ask, how is this possible? How could even God, how could
especially God, revive justifiably dead sinners? I don’t mean to
suggest that God doesn’t have the power to do this, but how
could God justly do this without first dealing with our sin? How is even forgiveness by God
possible? Because even God’s word says
that without atonement, without the shedding of blood, there
is no forgiveness. Hebrews 9.22, how does this forgiveness
square with God’s righteousness? How can He, especially He, suddenly
brush aside the utter unrighteousness, the sinfulness of a person, and
reinvigorate him or her with spiritual life? If God were suddenly
to decide to just ignore our sin, that indeed would be a problem. But that’s not what happened.
Paul has captured the divine process of redemption here in
this passage. You see, even prior to God’s
forgiveness of sin, he does something, another astounding thing here.
He makes provision, atonement for our sin. He doesn’t just
ignore it. He doesn’t just brush it aside,
pretending that we didn’t do these things. His righteousness
would never allow for that. Sin must be dealt with fully. The problem is that fallen mankind
cannot deal with his sin. He isn’t even able to do so, nor
is he inclined to do so. Frankly, he’s not even interested
in doing so. If the sin of humanity is going
to be dealt with, it must be God who does it. And so Paul
tells of a third aspect of this backdrop of spiritual restoration. It’s the pathway of our regeneration,
the pathway of our regeneration. And we find it in verse 14. The
occasion of our regeneration, the commencement of our regeneration,
and now the pathway of our regeneration. Look at verse 14. And grammatically it would read
like this. Bear with me. Take the passage in full. He
made us alive when we were dead in our transgressions. He made
us alive having forgiven us all our transgressions. He made us
alive having canceled out the certificate of death against
us. Look at verse 14 in full. He
made us alive, having canceled out the certificate of debt,
consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us. And He has taken it out of the
way, having nailed it to the cross. What an incredible statement. And we immediately note here
in verse 14 that Paul employs a third subordinate verb, a third
participle in his explanation of this backdrop of restoration,
having canceled out the certificate of death. You see, this proceeds
even the forgiveness of which Paul speaks in verse 13. This
explains how God was righteously able to extend forgiveness, because
our sin had been paid for in full. In his perfect righteousness,
God could not indiscriminately forgive sinful creation. Sin must be dealt with according
to God’s perfect character and righteousness. And Paul outlines
here in verse 14 exactly that. Paul begins with this fantastic
statement, having canceled out the certificate of debt. It’s
an amazing image of our sin. A certificate of debt, a handwritten
document against us. Essentially, this speaks of God’s
definitive judgment against each of us individually, The Greek
word translated here as certificate is kerographo. This is the only
occasion that this word is used in the New Testament, which makes
it an even more powerful image. It’s a compound word comprised
of ker, hand, and grapho, to write. This is a handwritten
document that he’s talking about. And Paul is speaking metaphorically
of this handwritten document. And people, and not only now
but then, could produce a handwritten document for a variety of reasons. It could be a contract of sorts. It could be a note of indebtedness,
an IOU. And so first, look at the way
that Paul describes this handwritten document. He says that it’s an
ugly document. The certificate of debt consists
of decrees against us. Fascinating little tidbit here,
the Greek word here for decrees is dogma. And you heard it there,
didn’t you? Because it’s pronounced the exact
same way in English as Greek. Dogma in our language speaks
of principles that are authoritatively set forth as absolutely true. There weren’t any suspicions
in this document. There weren’t any false accusations
in this document. Everything in it is absolutely
true of us. Paul uses this same word translated
in Ephesians 2.15, yeah, Ephesians 2.15 as ordinances to speak of
the same kind of document, the law of commandments contained
in ordinances. In other places in the New Testament,
the gospel in Acts, it’s translated as decree. The document of which
Paul speaks serves as God’s decree against us. In other words, these
were not mere allegations against us, suspicions, charges, if you
will, but the verifiable crimes for which we were convicted,
guilty. And it’s a very lengthy list.
Look at the next word that Paul uses to describe this handwritten
document. It was hostile to us. This was
no love letter. This would not read like a happy
and pleasant storybook. One writer characterized this
word as active hostility, sure antagonism that ultimately seeks
the sinner’s ruin. You know that the only other
time this word is used in the New Testament, it’s used in Hebrews
10, 27 to speak of adversaries. This is an adversarial document. It’s used there in Hebrews 10,
27. It’s actually a citation of Isaiah
26, 11, which speaks of God’s enemies. This is God expressing
to us why we are his enemies. This is neither a friendly or
not even a neutral document at all. Even in law enforcement
at times, whether the police officer himself or perhaps the
DA or even ultimately the judge, sometimes they grade on a curve,
they soften things. Not this document. You might
have an officer provide some kind words about the accused
or perhaps the defense attorney provides a character witness
that comes and speaks on behalf of the individual. It’s not as
bad as the charges make it seem, not this document, not here. Every word of this document is
convicting and true. It calls us with every syllable
to account for our words and deeds. It calls for our judgment
and execution to death. There is no softness. There is
no comfortableness. There is no niceness in the language
of this document at all. There’s no friendliness in this
writing. This document is a certificate of debt. It is definitely against
us. There is no misinterpreting it.
It is justly against it. We deserved it. And it is completely
against us. There is no breathing room in
it whatsoever. This handwritten document stands
as an indictment against us. It’s all the specific ways that
we have transgressed God’s law. If you will, this is our rap
sheet. All the crimes we’ve committed
against God, against His law, against other people. Now, think of this. In a court
of law, even a single offense if we were to be charged with
something, would require pages and pages of explanation and
back and forth. But this particular document
is massive. Volumes and volumes identifying
and describing every sin that we’ve ever committed, complete
with a detailed description of all and the attending circumstances
and the punishment to be rendered. But watch this. God takes this horrible document,
this certificate of debt, decrees against us, hostile to us, and
look at what Paul says he does with it. He cancels it. Such a great word. And before I divine it for us,
I’ll just say that this word should be the new and favorite
word of every sinner. Because it means to wipe off
or wipe away. The thought may even derive from
Isaiah 44, 22. This may have been in Paul’s
mind, even as he’s writing. Isaiah 44, 22, I have wiped out
your transgressions like a thick cloud and your sins like a heavy
mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed
you. Beautiful sentence. That’s what
God did with this unspeakable document against us. He wiped
it away. All of those sins of which we were objectively guilty. He erased it. Wiped it off. But how could even God justly
do that? He explains at the end of verse
14. He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the
cross. Think of this. Our Lord Jesus
made a willing sacrifice on the cross for sinners. The good shepherd
laid down his life for the sheep, John 10 verse 11. He gave himself
up for his bride, the church, Ephesians 5, 25. He paid our
penalty by becoming a curse for us, Galatians 3, 13. God made
Jesus to be sin on our behalf. 2 Corinthians 5, 21. The just for the unjust. He himself
bore our sins in his body on the cross. 1 Peter 2, 24. And in doing so, he perfectly
met and satisfied God’s judgment against us. That’s why Paul could
write in Romans 3.25 that he made a propitiation in his blood,
a payment, full atonement. In him, we have redemption through
his blood, Ephesians 1.7. The blood of Christ cleansed
our consciences, Hebrews 9.14. And that ultimately brought us
to a place of just, righteous reconciliation with God. We were
reconciled to God through the death of his son, Romans 5 10.
Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins.
Acts 10 43. He purchased the church of God
with his own blood. Acts 20 28. That’s how God can
forgive us. That’s why God forgave us. Let’s take the two portions of
this statement separately, briefly. First of all, he has taken it,
that is the certificate of debt, he has taken it out of the way.
It’s such a wonderful word that Paul uses here, just listen.
It’s the same word, this word taken out of the way, it’s the
same word that Jesus used to tell the paralytic in Matthew
9, pick up your bed and take it away. It’s the same word that
Matthew uses in describing the death of John the Baptist, that
they came and took away the body and buried it. Same word that
Mary uses in her anxiousness to explain her grief over Christ’s
missing body. They have taken away my Lord. The same word, Acts 21, that
the violent Jewish leaders shouted in their hatred of Paul, away
with him, take him away. Same word that Paul uses to speak
of the sinful traits of bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor
and slander. Let them be put away from you. Same word that the Apostle John
uses to speak of the Lord Jesus Christ in 1 John 3, 5. He appeared
in order to take away sins. The word means to take up, to
take away, to carry off, remove. And as John told us, that’s exactly
what Jesus came to do. Paul says here in Colossians
2.14, this is what God did. The particular form of the verb
here tells us that God completely removed the certificate of death.
He took it away. He not only wiped it away, he
took it away. But he’s not done with the document
yet. Look at the second portion of that statement of verse 14,
that final sentence. He has taken it out of the way,
having nailed it to the cross. Paul’s already told us that he’s
wiped away the certificate of debt. He’s taken away the certificate
of debt against us. And now Paul tells us how he
did this. The means by which he did this.
He did it by having nailed it to the cross. This is such a
graphic image. I want to take a moment to develop
it, if I might. In the first place, as we’ve
already noticed, the certificate of debt decrees against us, hostile
to us. It contains God’s judgment against
us. Every sin of thought, every sinful
word or deed that we’ve ever committed. Let me see if I can’t illustrate
this a little bit. And in order to do this, I need
to tell the younger members about the phone book. See, when I was young, they used
to have these things called phone books. This is before Google,
before Siri, before Alexa, all that. If you wanted to call someone,
some person or some business, you had to look it up in the
phone book. These were massive books, three
to four inches thick. full of finely printed data containing
the name and phone number of every person, the white pages. And there was a companion for
that phone book for businesses. Another volume,
three to four inches thick, printed on yellow paper with the names
and details of every conceivable business. the yellow pages. And about every six months or
so, some poor soul had to walk around pulling a big wagon and
deliver one of each to every address, the white pages and
the yellow pages. Why am I telling you this? because
I would suggest to you that the average person’s certificate
of debt could not be contained even in a phone book-sized document. Think of it. This hostile certificate against
us would contain every sin that we’ve ever committed, circumstances,
details, punishment, warranted, the whole thing. It would contain
every lie we’ve ever told, every unrighteous act that we’ve committed,
any moment that we did not seek to honor God, every sinful thought
we’ve ever entertained, every misdeed we’ve ever committed,
every greedy or stingy act. every occasion of drunkenness,
every moment of indiscretion, immoralities of every kind and
degree, every foolish deed, every lustful thought or action, every
crime we’ve done, every hateful sentiment that we’ve harbored,
every slanderous gossip we’ve shared, any idolatry that we’ve
embraced, all pride and boastfulness, arrogance and selfishness, wickedness
of any kind, any envy or coveting that we’ve harbored, any and
all violent behavior that we’ve inflicted. Any grudge that we’ve
maintained, every act of fraud or deceit we’ve done, all cruel
and unkind behavior, sins with our eyes, sins with our mouths,
sins with our hands, sins with our minds. That’s just a good
start. Come to think of it, a phone
book-sized document is probably too small, isn’t it? Hold that
thought. Let’s talk for a moment about
the cross. The cross on which these certificates were nailed.
We don’t know the precise configuration of the cross that the Romans
used for crucifixions. Some are shaped like a letter
T, suggesting that the cross fit on top of the pole. For our
purposes this morning, let’s just say that it was one like
the one hanging behind me. And this particular example of
the cross has a total of 16 surface areas, four extensions with four
sides each. And now let’s go back to Paul’s
image. He says here at the end of verse
14 that what God did was to take up these deadly telephone books
These documents against us, and ultimately he nailed them to
Jesus’ cross. What an incredible image. Let’s
make this even more explicit. Remember that telephone book-sized
document against you, this certificate of dead, contrary, hostile to
us? That document, that telephone
book sized document, Paul says was nailed to one of those 16
surface areas of the cross. What an image. The decrees against
us died there with Christ on the cross. And yet there, immediately
is where that illustration begins to break down. Because even if the cross had
four extensions, and each of those extensions had four sides, how many telephone book-sized
documents could you possibly nail to one of those 16 surface
areas? Not many. And yet Christ’s atonement
for sinners was complete. Behold, John the Baptist, exclaimed
of Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Our debt was dealt with forever. Nails aren’t frequently mentioned
with regard to Jesus’ crucifixion. The only other reference that
even comes close is John 20, 25. Thomas’ boast, remember? Unless I see in his hands the
imprint of the nails, And so Paul’s point is even more poignant
here. That the only other time that
a nail is even mentioned, it’s mentioned not of Christ, it’s
mentioned of what he did with our sin. Just as our Lord was
nailed to the cross, so also were these certificates of debt
against us. Just as Jesus died there on the
cross, Likewise, the certificates of debt against us died on the
cross. The only difference in Christ
being nailed to the cross and our certificate of debt having
been nailed to the cross is that those sins detailed in that document
can never be resurrected. Is that an astounding thought? God’s never going to rip one
of those phone books off the cross and thumb through it and
find anything to indict you and I. There is therefore now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. It’s because
of this. That while we were dead in our transgressions, that God
having forgiven all our transgressions because that horrible certificate
of debt was canceled, taken away, nailed to the cross, it is because
of that that God made us alive. We’ll
take it up there next Lord’s Day. Would you humble yourself
before him?